Energy Levels and Electron Orbitals

[gre]

What is the difference between energy levels and electron orbitals?

 

And why does this occur, for example with hydrogen:

 

n =1 -13.6 eV

n =2 -3.4 eV

n =3 -1.51 eV

 

Then the maximum electrons per shell are:

 

orbital_1 = 2

orbital_2 = 8

orbital_3 = 18

 

orbital_1 goes into orbital_2 4 times

(n=2) goes into (n=1) 4 times

[Klaynos]

The energy levels and the orbitals are the same thing. They are derived from the possible solutions of the wave equations around given nuclei (anything other than hydrogen is quite hard to work out mind).

 

Every electron in an orbital has a set of quantum numbers assigned to it, no two electrons in any orbital can have the same quantum numbers as any other (as electrons are fermions, the pauli exclusion principle), a result of this is the number of allowed electrons in each shell.

 

All of this is mathematically derived from quantum mechanics...

[swansont]

The energy levels and the orbitals are the same thing.

 

Within each energy level there can be different orbitals corresponding to different values of angular momentum. The degeneracy of the energy of these levels is lifted because of various interactions, but generally "energy level" corresponds to the different values of n. In that context, one can change orbitals (e.g. from an S to P) without changing energy levels. So I would be careful in equating the two — the orbital is defined by both the energy and the angular momentum.

[gre]

Thanks for the info.

 

Another quick question. Since the ground state orbital of hydrogen only has one electron, and the next level (i think) has 4 times the energy (energy of 4 grounds state electrons), and the next is 9 times the energy of the ground state. Does this man that neutrons dd to the electron orbitals/energy states (the same as protons), i.e. in a deuterium atom, which has 2 electrons in the ground state, and the rest of the orbitals/energy levels are multiples of the ground state level?

[swansont]

Deuterium has only one electron. There's a neutron in the nucleus, but the basic electron structure is identical to hydrogen (there will be small effects from the increased nuclear mass)

 

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/phyopt/hdoub.html#hdd

[gre]

Deuterium has only one electron.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/phyopt/hdoub.html#hdd

 

 

Oops, that's right. Few more questions:

 

1.) Does the one neutron change the orbital pattern in deuterium?

 

2.) Could you say only protons are responsible for the atoms orbital structure?

 

3.) Also if a hydrogen atom was accelerated to 2x the relativistic mass/energy of 1 proton, would the orbital structure change to something more like a helium atom?

Edited December 21, 2008 by gre

[thedarkshade]

1.) Does the one neutron change the orbital pattern in deuterium?

I presume not. The orbital pattern is determined by the nature of electrostatic forces, and a neutron has no such propertries. But there are differences anyhow.

"Bonds involving deuterium and tritium are somewhat stronger than the corresponding bonds in light hydrogen, and these differences are enough to make significant changes in biological reactions (see heavy water)." - Wiki

 

2.) Could you say only protons are responsible for the atoms orbital structure?

If my answer above is correct, then yeah!

 

3.) Also if a hydrogen atom was accelerated to 2x the relativistic mass/energy of 1 proton, would the orbital structure change to something more like a helium atom?

I don't think so. That would involve a change in mass (an increase of course), but the charge wouln't change (AFAIK).

[swansont]

As the link I provided explained, there is a mass effect, but it's very small. In heavier elements there is an additional effect of additional neutrons because of the change in the charge distribution.

 

A moving hydrogen atom's spectrum will change because of the Doppler shift, but in its own frame it's at rest and has the same spectrum.