Question #19b6e

1 Answer
Jun 7, 2017

Differences between an orbit and an orbital -

1) An orbit is a well-defined path the electron takes while it moves around the nucleus while an orbital is a region of space where the probability of finding an electron is the maximum i.e. the electron spends most of it's time in the region defined as an orbital.

2) An orbit lies in a plane while an orbital is a region of space.

3) An orbit is well defined and has a well defined geometry while an orbital may not have a well defined geometry or sharp boundaries.