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A question came up on another list serve and the writer would like to
know why the energy levels are lettered. I know why the numbers are
used for hydrogen but who set up the lettering scheme.
s,p,d,f stand for sharp, principal, diffuse, fundamental.
The names (and abbreviations) come from the earliest work
in spectroscopy -- any effort to sort out the various
spectral lines, long before there was any understanding
of atomic structure.
This is true. However, I think the question is about lettering the
principle orbit locations not the orbitals. For instance, the first orbit
is either designated as '1' or 'K' the second is '2' or 'L' etc...