Degenerate orbitals are electron orbitals that have the same energy levels/Quantum_Chemistry/Electron_Configurations). According to the Aufbau principle, lower energy levels are filled before higher energy levels, and as per Hund’s rule, degenerate orbitals are filled evenly before electrons are filled into higher energy levels. The degeneracy of these orbitals means that they are not affected by any external factors, like an electric or magnetic field, and the application of the magnetic field is disrupted by the degeneracy of these orbitals.

Examples of degenerate orbitals include the p orbital, which has three degenerate orbitals, and the d orbital, which has five degenerate orbitals. The orbitals in the 2p sublevel are degenerate orbitals, which means that the 2px, 2py, and 2pz orbitals have the exact same energy. Similarly, the 3px, 3py, and 3pz are degenerate orbitals.

In general, the more complications you add, like more electrons, neighboring atoms, magnetic fields, etc., the fewer orbitals are degenerate/Quantum_Chemistry/Electron_Configurations). The concept of degenerate orbitals only kicks in when you get multiple orbitals at the same energy level.