HomeWHICHWhich Characteristic Is Given By The Angular Momentum Quantum Number

Which Characteristic Is Given By The Angular Momentum Quantum Number

Orbitals

The number of orbitals in a subshell is equivalent to the number of values the magnetic quantum number ml takes on. A helpful equation to determine the number of orbitals in a subshell is 2l +1. This equation will not give you the value of ml, but the number of possible values that ml can take on in a particular orbital. For example, if l=1 and ml can have values -1, 0, or +1, the value of 2l+1 will be three and there will be three different orbitals. The names of the orbitals are named after the subshells they are found in:

s orbitals p orbitals d orbitals f orbitals l 0 1 2 3 ml 0 -1, 0, +1 -2, -1, 0, +1, +2 -3, -2, -1, 0, +1, +2, +3 Number of orbitals in designated subshell 1 3 5 7

In the figure below, we see examples of two orbitals: the p orbital (blue) and the s orbital (red). The red s orbital is a 1s orbital. To picture a 2s orbital, imagine a layer similar to a cross section of a jawbreaker around the circle. The layers are depicting the atoms angular nodes. To picture a 3s orbital, imagine another layer around the circle, and so on and so on. The p orbital is similar to the shape of a dumbbell, with its orientation within a subshell depending on ml. The shape and orientation of an orbital depends on l and ml.

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To visualize and organize the first three quantum numbers, we can think of them as constituents of a house. In the following image, the roof represents the principal quantum number n, each level represents a subshell l, and each room represents the different orbitals ml in each subshell. The s orbital, because the value of ml can only be 0, can only exist in one plane. The p orbital, however, has three possible values of ml and so it has three possible orientations of the orbitals, shown by Px, Py, and Pz. The pattern continues, with the d orbital containing 5 possible orbital orientations, and f has 7:

Another helpful visual in looking at the possible orbitals and subshells with a set of quantum numbers would be the electron orbital diagram. (For more electron orbital diagrams, see Electron Configurations.) The characteristics of each quantum number are depicted in different areas of this diagram.

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