Question

Which of the following orbitals are degenerate?

${\text{3d}}_{\text{xy}}\text{, }{\text{4d}}_{\text{xy}}\text{, }{\text{3d}}_{{\text{z}}^2}\text{, }{\text{3d}}_{\text{yz}}\text{, }{\text{5d}}_{{\text{z}}^2}$

• A. ${\text{3d}}_{\text{xy}}\text{, }{\text{3d}}_{{\text{z}}^2}\text{, }{\text{3d}}_{\text{yz}}$
• B. ${\text{4d}}_{\text{xy}}\text{, }{\text{3d}}_{{\text{z}}^2}\text{, }{\text{3d}}_{\text{yz}}$
• C. ${\text{3d}}_{{\text{z}}^2}\text{, }{\text{3d}}_{\text{yz}}\text{, }{\text{5d}}_{{\text{z}}^2}$
• D. None

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

The orbitals which belongs to same subshell and same shell are called degenerate orbitals. $\left(3{\mathrm{d}}_{\mathrm{xy}},3{\mathrm{d}}_{{\mathrm{z}}^2},3{\mathrm{d}}_{\mathrm{yz}}\right)$ and $\left(4{\mathrm{d}}_{\mathrm{xy}},4{\mathrm{d}}_{\mathrm{yz}},4{\mathrm{d}}_{{\mathrm{z}}^2}\right)$ are the two sets of degenerate orbitals.