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I've recently learned that as an orbital gets larger, its energy gets closer to 0. Before this, I learned that when an electron moves down an orbital it releases the energy difference between those orbitals. This would suggest that higher orbitals have more energy, but apparently this isn't the case.

Can anyone identify the flaw in my understanding of orbitals? Also, is the energy of an orbital equal to the sum of the electrons in it? Thank you for your help.

Jackson
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1 Answers1

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Orbitals have negative energy, so closer to zero means higher energy. It is analogous to the energy of orbiting celestial objects.

Orbital energy is the energy of an electron in quantum state related to the orbital.

Poutnik
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