What does "l" mean?

[Ananta3G]

Hi in this question (1D.11), it asks " How many orbitals are in subshells with l equal to (a) 0; (b) 2; (c) 1; (d) 3?" What is l and how would I approach this problem? Thank you!

[JasonLiu_2J]

The value of "l" corresponds to the orbital angular momentum. It essentially tells you in which subshell the electron resides, whether it be the s-, p-, d-, or f- subshells. When l=0, the electron is part of the s-subshell. If l=1, then the electron is part of the p-subshell and so on. Each subshell has a certain number of orbitals associated with them, each of which can have two electrons. The s-subshell only has one orbital, whereas the p-subshell contains three orbitals, with each subsequent subshell having an additional two orbitals compared to those before it. In essence, "l" is simply a value that represents which subshell you are looking at, whether it be the s-, p-, d-, or f-subshells.

[AKatukota]

Thank you! This question really helped me as well.