Electron Configuration - Notation Clarification

[ract]

Warm greetings,

My confusion surronds Electron-orbitals...

My text describes the sub-shells s, p, d, and f. If s shell has 2 electrons in spherical orbit, and p shell 6 electrons in 3 lobed orbitals, where on Earth are the other 2 electrons that complete the orbital shell of Neon? What is the '2s' shell? And why do all illustrations of the elements in the Periodic Table show 2 initial electrons surrounded by 8, that's eight, electrons in one shell!?

Thanks in advance for your clarification.

 

[f95toli]

2s is also "spherical" (isotropic). just as 1s (and every other s orbital).

The illustrations are referring to the number of electrons that share the same principal quantum number n (2 for n=1 etc)

 

[ract]

Thanks

Is the 2s a sperical orbit overlayed/ontop of the initial 1s spherical orbit, or does it somehow add to a 1s orbit leading to a larger sphere?

 

[ract]

Can anyone point me in the direction of an article that might answer my query, and provide evidence for this structure?

Thanks

 

[Drakkith]

Per here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_orbital
I think that the orbitals all overlap each other.

 

[f95toli]

Thanks

Is the 2s a sperical orbit overlayed/ontop of the initial 1s spherical orbit, or does it somehow add to a 1s orbit leading to a larger sphere?

No, the 1s and 2s orbitals are orthogonal; i.e. they do not overlap.

It is worth keeping in mind here that 1s, 2s etc are "labels" for wavefunctions (and often depicted in k-space) . You have to be VERY careful when interpreting them geometrically in real space (s is isotropic and p polar, everything else is just very complicated).