The electron orbitals presented here represent a volume of space within which an electron would have a certain probability of being based on particular energy states and atoms. For example, in a simple lowest-energy state hydrogen atom, the electrons are most likely to be found within a sphere around the nucleus of an atom. In a higher energy state, the shapes become lobes and rings, due to the interaction of the quantum effects between the different atomic particles. In addition to technical merits, they make pretty pictures.

The shape of the orbital depends on many factors. The most important are the quantum numbers associated with the particular energy state. These are n, the principal quantum number, l, the oribital quantum number, and m, the angular momentum quantum number. The following table shows some of these shapes

 

All atomic orbitals with n<=10 are presented here. Note that the orbitals with negative m are identical to those with the same magnitude positive m value except for a rotation,and are not shown separately. The orbitals are presented in six different ways, n and l versus m, n and m versus l, l and m versus n, n-l and l-m versus m, n-l and m versus l-m, and l-m and m versus n-l. The later three are grouped more by shape than by quantum number. With the exception of the 1s0 orbital, all s0 orbitals are shown as cutaways to show the concentric spheres.