Also available is the Grand Table , showing many, many more orbitals in six different organizations. These shapes continue on infinitely, getting ever more lobes or rings on them. The blue color indicates a positive phase, while the orange color indicates a negative phase, with the phase taken as defined by Condon and Shortley. The colors become important when molecular orbitals are computed. So far, all of the pictures have been of electron orbitals associated with a single atom.
Molecules can become much more complicated.
When two atoms are within a certain proximity of each other, the orbital probabilities can either reinforce each other or cancel each other out. If you wish to see more atomic orbitals, here are four MPEG video files of orbitals rotating. They are 5D0.MPG , 4F0.MPG , 5F0.MPG , and 5G4.MPG . These range from 500 to 750 kb. Return to Orbital Central or the Site Map .