Concept of Orbital

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According to wave mechanics, we cannot simply say that the electron exists at a particular point but we talk about certain regions in space around the nucleus where the probability of finding the electron is maximum. Such regions are expressed by mathematical expressions and are called orbital wave functions or commonly known as orbitals. Therefore, the wave equation leads to the concept of orbitals instead of well-defined circular orbits.

An orbital may be defined as the region in space around the nucleus where the probability of finding the electron is maximum.

If a boundary is drawn which encloses a region where there is high probability (about 90 - 95%) of finding the electron, the figure obtained gives the general picture of an orbital. However, it is difficult to draw the real picture of an orbital. For the sake of simplicity, it may be represented as shown in the figure given below.

fig 1.2 - Representation of (a) Orbital and (b) Orbit

The orbital is indicated by dotted figure representing electron cloud. The intensity of dots gives the relative probability of finding the electron in that particular region. It may be noted that there are some chances of finding the electron outside this region. The above figure provides a comparison of an orbital with the circular orbit proposed by Bohr.