Question

The orbitals are called degenerate when

• A. they have the same wave functions
• B. they have the same wave functions but different energies
• C. they have different wave functions but same energy
• D. they have the same energy

Answer 1

Answer: (D)

The orbitals having the same energy energy but different in orientation, are called degenerate orbitals. e.g. $3 d$-orbital, $1=2, m=-2,-1,0,+1,+2$,
i.e. there are five different orientations represented by $d_{x y}, d_{y z}, d_{z x}, d_{x^{2}-y^{2}}$ and $d_{z^2}$.