Endie
 | Vocabulary |
azimuthal quantum number ( )electron magnetic quantum number (m)orbital shell subshell |
(azimuthal quantum number). You can think of as a label for a group of orbitals that have related shapes.
A subshell with =0 is called an s subshell and contains spherical orbitals; a subshell with =1 is called a p subshell and contains dumbbell shaped orbitals; a subshell with =2 is called a d subshell and contains (mainly) orbitals that look like 4-leafed clovers.
The number of possible orbitals in a subshell is determined by the number of possible m values for the subshell. Think of m as a label for individual orbitals within the subshell. For every m value that is allowed, there is one orbital in the subshell.
Allowed values of m are integers between - to +, including zero.
|
possible values of m |
number of orbitals in this subshell |
| 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 1 | -1, 0, +1 | 3 |
| 2 | -2, -1, 0, +1, +2 | 5 |
| 3 | -3, -2, -1, 0, +1, +2, +3 | 7 |
Each orbital can hold a maximum of two electrons, so the maximum number of electrons you can put into the subshells are 2, 6, 10, and 14 for s, p, d, and f subshells, respectively.