Orbital vs. Subshell

[JakeSaum_1A]

What's the difference between an orbital and a sub shell?

[Emmeline Phu 1G]

Hi! Subshells would be for example 2p which has a maximum of three orbitals. Each orbital in the 2p subshell holds up to two electrons. Essentially, orbitals make up a subshell. Hope this helps! :)

[Megan Sparrow 1A]

The main difference between shell subshell and orbital is that shells are made up of electrons that share the same principal quantum number. Subshells are composed of electrons that share the same angular momentum quantum number (l), whereas orbitals are made up of electrons that are in the same energy level but have different spins.

[Ria Nawathe 1C]

Within a particular energy level (n), all electrons with the same angular momentum quantum number (l) are in the same sub-shell, and all electrons with the same n, l, and ml (magnetic quantum number) are in the same orbital.

Here's an explanation with a helpful graphic:

https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/que ... d-orbitals

Hope this helps!

[Annika Tamaki 1E]

An atomic orbital is defined as a region of space in which there is a high probability of finding an electron in an atom (s, p, d, f). A subshell is all the atomic orbitals of an atom that have the same l value. Hope this helps!

[DMaya_2G]

A subshell is divided into orbitals. An orbital is basically an area of space where an electron can be found. Only two electrons are workable per orbital.

[Alen Huang 2G]

A subshell would be like 2p and orbital would be the state that the electron is in such as 2px

[Leyla Anwar 3B]

What is the difference between a shell and a sub-shell? And which is the orbital within?

[Kaiya_PT_1H]

What is the difference between a shell and a sub-shell? And which is the orbital within?

As Megan said above, shells include electrons with the same principal quantum number (n). I believe this could also be called the energy level. subshells are the different configurations within the shell, which are reflected by the quantum number l. For example, the 2p subshell would include all 3 of the different hourglass-shaped configurations he showed diagrams of last Friday. An orbital is within a subshell, so in the 2p example one of the orbitals would be 2px (one of the hourglass-shaped configurations).

[Kiara Phillips 3L]

The best way I can explain it is that sub-shells are a part of shells and each sub-shell contains at least one orbital and orbitals can hold 2 electrons (maximum).

[Serena Song 1A]

Each subshell has 1 or more or orbitals. Within an orbital, there's a high probability that an electron can be found. Also depending on the type of subshell, the number and shape of orbitals changes. (s subshells have 1 orbital, p subshells have 3 orbitals, d subshells have 5 orbitals, and f subshells have 7 orbitals.)

[FionaHunter21]

So there are only 4 possible subshells, which would be s, p, d, and f?

[Alan Huang 1E]

Subshells would be like s, p, d, f.
Orbitals depend on which subshell.
S has 1 orbital
P has 3 orbitals
D has 5 orbitals
F has 7 orbitals

[Keshav Patel 14B 2B]

S, P, D, and F are all subshells and within each sub shell you have an amount of orbitals. In S there is one orbital which has 2 electrons, P has 3 orbitals that can have 6 electrons, D has 5 orbitals which can have 10 electrons and finally f has 7 orbitals which can have a total of 14 electrons.