MHB Radial distribution of a 3d orbital

[Dethrone]

How do I sketch the radial distribution of a $3d_{x^2-y^2}$ orbital? :D

 

[I like Serena]

How do I sketch the radial distribution of a $3d_{x^2-y^2}$ orbital? :D

Hey Rido!

Check out for instance Atomic orbitals on wiki?
It has some nice and different types of representations for the $3d_{x^2-y^2}$ orbital. (Mmm)

 

[jacobi1]

Also, try The Orbitron: a gallery of atomic orbitals and molecular orbitals.
It has many different images of all different kinds of orbitals and their equations, but more importantly, it has explanations of how the shapes and equations arise.

 

[Dethrone]

Thanks ILS and jacobi! (Cool)

I was able to find this image, which I'm pretty sure is the radial distribution of the 3D orbital.

View attachment 3854

In general, an orbital has $n-l-1$ radial nodes, and in this case, $n=3$, $l=2$, so there are $0$ radial nodes. This agrees with the image because there are no roots on the graph. There are however, two angular nodes / nodal planes that are perpendicular to the axis, but does not need to be reflected in the graph.