orbital vs subshell [ENDORSED]

[704992521]

What is the exact difference between an atomic orbital and a subshell?

[Isabelle De Rego 1A]

If you're talking about in terms of quantum numbers, an orbital is quantum number n, which can be anything from 1 to infinity. A subshell depends on the orbital, because it can only be from 0 to n-1. You can think of orbitals as the different rows on the periodic table and subshells as the different spaces that the electrons are kept. Like when we were doing electron configurations, the electrons were in s,p,d, etc. Those letters are what the subshells signify.

[Ismail 1F]

Orbitals are contained in subshells, they make up the number of electrons in an atom.

[Florence-1F]

Orbitals within a shell are divided into subshells that have the same value of the angular quantum number