CHEM 121 glossary
Atomic orbital
A one-electron wavefunction of an atom, labelled by , and and drawn as the region where is large. Each orbital holds at most two electrons, with opposite spins. (Molecular orbitals, module 7, are the same idea spread over a whole molecule.)
The three 2p orbitals: same shape, different orientations.
Example
The orbital has , and one of the three values; it points along and has a nodal plane (the plane) through the nucleus.