How Are Electrons Distributed Among Px, Py, and Pz Orbitals in Carbon?

[zachnorious]

Hello I didn't get something about the AO.

i.e the electron configuration of C is 1s² 2s² 2p² . So we know that at the 2nd shell this has 4 electrons, 2 in s orbital + 2 in the p, right?
How do we find out how the 2 electrons of p are spread in the px, py, pz?

Thank you,
Panos

 

[zachnorious]

I mean since px,py,pz have the same energy is there any other rule that tell us how many electrons are in each p (px,py,pz) or is this different from element to element and each one has a characteristic px,py,pz for no specific reason?

 

[chemisttree]

Those suborbitals are of equal energy (x,y,z). Name them any way you want. They are all identical except that they are mutually orthogonal (in this case). Have you heard of pairing energy. How much extra energy does it take to unpair the electrons thereby allowing them to occupy different suborbitals?