Electron Orbitals (Chemistry)

Topics: chemistry, atoms, electrons, energy levels, orbitals

Grades: 9-12

Duration to complete: 10-15 minutes

Learning outcome: Students will begin to understand how electrons are arranged in an atom. Students will learn that an element’s electron configuration shows which energy levels and orbitals contain electrons. Students will begin to understand s, p, d, and f orbitals.

Intro for students: Electrons are so funny. They all want to be close to the nucleus, but they don't like to be close to each other. So what do they do? They spread out into orbitals. See how this happens and learn the fascinating rules of electron organization.