Subshells

[CalebBurns3L]

I'm confused about how the l quantum number works. I understand that it determines shape in that l = 0 means s-orbital, l = 1 means p-orbital and so on. But if n>4 then can't l be greater than 3? What shape would an l number >3 have? Does it cycle through the shapes?

Thank you!

[Julia Meno 1D]

Hey! I think for this class, we will only need to know what subshell corresponds to l when l is less than or equal to 3 (so l = 0, 1, 2, 3 or s-, p-, d-, f-orbital). But, you're correct in the sense that if n > 4, then l will continue to have its greatest value at n - 1. However I don't think we need to identify what subshells/shape it would have at that level :)

[Pooja Nair 1C]

Theoretically, it's possible for l to be higher than 3 (you could potentially have a g orbital in which case the first occurance would be in 5g) but we don't directly address it in this class, so you only need to know up to f orbitals, and that for an f orbital, l = 3

[Rithik Kumar 3E]

I agree with the above posts. However, I believe that this course restricts us to consider orbital shapes up to the d and f orbitals or (l=2 and 3). As a general rule of thumb, however, as your "l" value increases, the orbital shape's complexity increases.