Why are orbitals named as s, p, d and f? Is there any reason for that?

Question

Why are orbitals named as s, p, d and f? Is there any reason for that?

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

It was a revelation when I realized that the strange shape of the spd and f orbitals matches the shapes of spherical harmonic functions. It’s the same as a Taylor series describing a wave but the orbitals are 3d.

That’s when I realized that the shape isn’t what the electron looks like, it’s the probability of the electron at each point in space around the protons in the center.