Why are orbitals named as s, p, d and f? Is there any reason for that?
In: Chemistry
The other commenter is right, but the reason it’s called a, p, d, and f are short for sharp, principal, diffuse, and fundamental. You can remember the first two by their shapes, s groups electrons follow a spherical orbit, while p group electrons are polar(they go to one side, then the opposite). D orbitals are mostly planar(they occupy a flat area) which is why they are diffuse, and f orbitals are fundamental in that they are found pretty equally in all 8 directions.
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