Video narration
Why don't all orbitals have the same shape if they all describe electrons around a nucleus? An orbital is not a track. It is a region where an electron is likely to be found-a probability map, not a route. An s orbital is like a ball, spherical around the nucleus. A p orbital is like a dumbbell, with two lobes on opposite sides of the nucleus, and three possible orientations. The d orbital group has five orbitals: four are commonly shown as four-lobed clovers, while one has two lobes and a surrounding ring. These drawings are not solid objects or exact boundaries. They show where finding the electron is more likely. The pictures stop being paths and become probability patterns. So why do s, p, and d look different? Each has a different probability pattern: s is spherical, p is two-lobed, and d is mostly four-lobed.