Talk:Spectroscopic notation

mnemonic is quite a rubbish

isn't it?—Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.189.234.102 (talk • contribs) 15:23, 28 November 2006

This page doesn't actually discuss spectroscopic notation. This page: http://quantummechanics.ucsd.edu/ph130a/130_notes/node315.html does. --Graygator10 (talk) 20:20, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Seriously, this page needs to actually discuss the topic! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.245.205.65 (talk) 19:26, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

What letter comes after z?

If the sequence is s, p, d, f, g, h, i, j, k, ..., t, u, v, w, x, y, and z, what comes after z in this notation? Does the letter a come next? 108.71.121.83 (talk) 18:59, 19 November 2016 (UTC)

I think the practical answer is that the question doesn't arise because observed energy levels don't go that far. In the NIST Atomic Spectra Database it is very hard to find any states with occupied orbitals past h (l = 5). I may have missed a few with l = 6 or 7, but z orbitals would be l = 20 and I strongly doubt any states have been observed with occupied orbitals for l = 20 or more. Dirac66 (talk) 00:50, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

z orbitals would be l = 21, actually. 108.66.234.235 (talk) 18:52, 24 November 2016 (UTC)

Refer to this table:

letter	l
s	0
p	1
d	2
f	3
g	4
h	5
i	6
j	7
k	8
l	9
m	10
n	11
o	12
q	13
r	14
t	15
u	16
v	17
w	18
x	19
y	20
z	21
a	22
b	23
c	24
e	25

108.66.234.235 (talk) 18:55, 24 November 2016 (UTC)

But your table includes the letter j, which should be omitted according to the article. If j is removed, then z will be 20. Dirac66 (talk) 20:34, 24 November 2016 (UTC)

What is the letter for the orbital if l = 22? 108.66.234.235 (talk) 22:22, 24 November 2016 (UTC)