An illustration of the shape of the 4f orbitals.

The lanthanide series is defined by the progressive filling of the 4f orbitals. These seven orbitals have the following ml values:

ml=0, ±1, ±2, ±3

ml=0 are real, all the others are complex and so linear combinations must be taken to obtain real orbitals.







General set

These are produced by simply taking linear combinations of ml=±1, ±2, ±3

ml

0

z3

±1

xz2 yz2

±2

xyz z(x2-y2)

±3

x(x2-3y2) y(3x2-y2)

Hydrogen | Fluorine | Methane | Ethylene | Acetylene | Allene | Benzene | p-orbitals | d-orbitals | f-orbitals

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