Question

The $3d$-orbitals having electron density in all the three axes is

• A. $3d_{xy}$
• B. $3d_{z^2}$
• C. $3d_{yz}$
• D. $3d_{zx}$

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

The five $d$-orbitals are $d _{x y}, d _{y z}, d _{z x}, d _{x^{2}-y^{2}}, d _{z^{2}}$
and have shapes as given in the figure. It is clear that $d_{Z^{2}}$-orbital has one lobe along $z$ axis and donut-shaped electron cloud perpendicular to it in $xy$ plane, while all other d-orbitals have two dumbells eiher along the axis $\left( d _{ x ^{2}- y ^{2}}\right)$ or in between the axis $\left(d _{ xy }, d _{ yz }, d _{z x }\right)$