Question

Define an orbital.What is the difference between an orbit and an orbital?

Answer 1

Dear student!
An orbital is a space around the nucleus where the possibility of finding electrons is maximum.

Difference between orbit and orbital is :

Orbit	Orbital
1.It is well-defined circular path followed by electron around nucleus.	1.It is a region of space around the nucleus where the probability of finding an electron is maximum.
2.It represents two dimensional motion of electron around nucleus.	2.It represents three dimensional motion of electron around nucleus.
3. The maximum no. of electrons in an orbit is 2n2 .	3.The maximum no. of electrons in an orbital is 2.
4.Orbit is circular in shape.	4.Orbitals have different shapes.
5. It is denoted as K,L,M etc	5. They are named as, s,p,d, f etc,