## How are orbitals corresponding to m sub l numbers

$H_{\psi }=E_{\psi }$

1-D: $E_{TOTAL}\psi (x)=E_{k}\psi (x)+V(x)\psi(x)=-\frac{h^{2}}{8\pi ^{2}m}\frac{d^{2}\psi(x)}{dx^{2}}+V(x)\psi(x)$

Katarina Ho -1B
Posts: 29
Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2018 11:03 am

### How are orbitals corresponding to m sub l numbers

I am a little confused as to how an orbital can be a negative number. Say n=3 so you are in the 3d subshell. Th orbitals it says can be: -2,-1,0,1,2 but I don't understand what these numbers correspond to?

Luis Avalos 1D
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2017 3:00 am

### Re: How are orbitals corresponding to m sub l numbers

If you're referring to m, it corresponds to the magnetic quantum number which tells us the number of orbitals and their orientation, if i'm not mistaken.

AnnaYan_1l
Posts: 96
Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2018 11:05 am
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### Re: How are orbitals corresponding to m sub l numbers

Katarina Ho -1B wrote:I am a little confused as to how an orbital can be a negative number. Say n=3 so you are in the 3d subshell. Th orbitals it says can be: -2,-1,0,1,2 but I don't understand what these numbers correspond to?

For a 3d subshell,
n = 3
l = 2 (because a d-orbital responds to an l of 2) (the allowed values for l are 0, 1, 2,...n-1 which means that the maximum number l can be is n-1)
ml can be -2, -1, 0, 1, or 2 (because the allowed values for ml are l, l -1,..., -l)

So, orbitals correspond to l (the subshell).

If the question gave you a 2p subshell:
n = 2
l = 1
ml can be -1, 0, 1

I hope this clarifies things! Let me know if there was anything confusing about what I wrote.