How does 2s orbital differ from 1s?

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How does 2s orbital differ from 1s?

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Answer 1 · 2018-05-28T17:55:11

A $2s$ orbital has one more radial node.

The number of total nodes is

$n-1$ ,

where $n$ is the principal quantum number ( $n = 1, 2, 3, . . .$ ).

The number of angular nodes is given by $l$ , the angular momentum quantum number, so the number of radial nodes is

$n - l - 1$ .

But for $s$ orbitals, $l = 0$ , so $n - 1 = n - l - 1$ for $s$ orbitals. Therefore, since $n$ increased by $1$ , $2s$ orbitals have one more node, and it is of the radial kind.

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Knowing that, if the following radial distribution functions consist of either the $1s$ or the $2s$ , which is which?

HINT: if the radial part of the wave function, $R_(nl)(r)$ goes to zero, so does the radial probability density, which is proportional to $R_(nl)^2(r)$ .

Graphed from hydrogen atom wave functions

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How does 2s orbital differ from 1s?

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