Question

What are degenerate orbitals? Give an example.

Answer 1

Degenerate orbitals

• “The orbitals belong to the same subshell that is, orbitals of equal energy, called degenerate orbitals”.
• Digram showing the degenerate orbitals are given below:-

An example of degenerate orbital

• As shown in the diagram above, the 3p subshell has three orbitals.
• These three orbitals are called degenerate orbitals because they have similar energies.
• The pairing of electrons will start in the 3p with the entry of the 4th electron.