Shells, Subshells, Orbitals

[LG2019]

I'm having trouble conceptually understanding the difference between shells, subshells, and orbitals. Can someone help me?

[Hanlin Zhu 4G]

Shells indicates the energy of the electrons and are specified by the principal quantum number n. There are k different subshells contained in a given shell with n value= k. For example, there are only one subshell in the n=1 level. There are two subshells in the n=2 level.

Subshells are related to the shapes of orbitals and are denoted by orbital angular momentum quantum number l. A subshell with l= k contains 2k+1 orbitals. For example, the s subshell (l=0) has 1 orbital. The p subshell (l=1) has 3 orbitals.

[Justin Haggard 1E]

Orbitals are arranged in shells (n) and subshells (l). The best way to visualize this is by looking at a diagram, so I've included one below:

[MKearney_4G]

So is the 1s orbital completely seperate from the 2s orbital then?

[zoedfinch1K]

So is the 1s orbital completely separate from the 2s orbital then?

Yes. When n=1 (the first shell), the only possible subshell is the 1s subshell. In the second shell, or when n=2, there are now two possible subshells: 2s and 2p.

Another thing to note is the orbital refers to the shape of the area that electrons will be commonly found or the shape of a subshell.