Question

How many electrons can we put in a: (a) Shell with quantum number 'n' (b) Subshell with quantum numbers 'n' and 'P (c) Spacial orbital (d) Spin-orbital

Answer 1

A) As you know each shell has more subshells The first shell only has the s subshell = 2 electrons The second shell has the s and p subshells = 2 + 6 = 8 electrons The third shell has the s, p, and d subshells = 2 + 6 + 10 = 18 electrons The fourth shell has the s, p, d, and f subshells = 2 + 6 + 10 + 14 = 32 electrons So the pattern is like that: 2,8,18,32,...n so the formula will be 2n2 that means if n=1, then 2n2= 2 if n=2, then 2n2= 8 B) suppose that For the first shell has n=1, so only one value of I is allowed: I=0, which is the s subshell. For i=0 only ml=0 is allowed. Thus the s subshell has only 1 orbital. The first shell has 1 subshell, which has 1 orbital with 2 electrons total. similarly for The second shell has n=2, so the values of I are: 1=0, which is the s subshell, and I=1, which is the p subshell. For 1=1, ml has 3 possible values: ml=-1,0 +1. Thus the p subshell has three orbitals. The second shell has 2 subshells: the s subshell, which has 1 orbital with 2 electrons, and the p subshell, which has 3 orbitals with 6 electrons, for a total of 4 orbitals and 8 electrons, from this if you know the value of I then you can calculate total no.of electron in each subshell by using formula 41+2 like if I=0 then 41+2=2 (for S), if l=1 then 41+2 will be (6 for P) C) we can up to two electron in each subshell D) each orbital can accomodate up to two electrons. One spin-up and another one spin-down