Question

What are the shapes and locations of s and p orbitals within an atom.

Answer 1

Answer : The shapes and locations of 's' orbitals within an atom is spherical and around the nucleus respectively and shapes and locations of 'p' orbitals within an atom is dumbbell and around the nucleus respectively.

Explanation :

As we know that there are many sub-levels which are s, p, d, f, g and so on. The sub-level are oriented in three directions along the x, y and z axis.  

The 's' sub-level has one orbital that are spherically shaped.

The 'p' sub-level has three orbitals $(p_x,p_y,p_z)$ that are dumbbell shaped.

The 'd' sub-level has five orbitals $(d_{xy},d_{xz},d_{yz}d_{z^2},d_{x^2-y^2})$ that are double-dumbbell shaped.

The 'f' sub-level has seven orbitals $(f_{x(x^2-3y^2)},f_{y(x^2-3z^2)},f_{y(3x^2-3y^2)},f_{xz^2},f_{z^3},f_{yz^2},f_{xyz})$ that are complex flower shaped.

The location of all the sub-levels is around the nucleus.

Hence, the shapes and locations of 's' orbitals within an atom is spherical and around the nucleus respectively and shapes and locations of 'p' orbitals within an atom is dumbbell and around the nucleus respectively.

Answer 2

The s-orbital is spherical shape like a ring. The s orbitals are non-directional and spherically symmetrical, This means that the probability of finding the electron is same in all directions at a particular distance from the nucleus. The p-orbitals are more like bowling pins. For p-orbitals, there are three possible orientations corresponding to m = -1, 0, +1 values. This means that there are three p - orbitals in each p-subshell. These are designated as px, py and pz.