Subshell Definition

[Eileen Quach Dis 2A]

Hi! I'm confused about what a subshell is and how it's different from an orbital.

[Faith Lee 2L]

Hi! A subshell is another name for the angular momentum (l), while an orbital is the magnetic quantum number (ml). I use this diagram to help me remember and visualize the difference--I find it confusing too!

[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.

Hope this helps!

[Margaret Wang 2D]

"Shell" refers to the first quantum number, n
"Subshell" refers to the second quantum number, l
"Orbital refers to the third quantum number, ml

For example, for "2px" the shell is n=2, the subshell is 2p, and the orbital is 2px

Here's a photo i found that can probably explain it better than I can in words

[Nadya Higgins 3F]

A subshell refers to the areas where electrons have the same angular momentum, and is denoted as "l" which can be 0, 1, 2, etc or anything that is less than or equal to 1 below the principle quantum number (n). Orbitals on the other hand describe the orientation of the subshells, and refers to the magnetic quantum number which labels the different orbitals of the subshells and can be denoted from -l to +l. This is from my understanding, but if anyone wants to correct me then I'm happy to learn! I hope this helped a little bit.

[Frankie Mele 3J]

To add to this question, I was wondering if when describing the exact spin of the electron using x,y, and z, would these x,y,z variables be referred to as orbitals or sub-orbitals? Thank you

[Kimiya Aframian IB]

Hi! I'm confused about what a subshell is and how it's different from an orbital.

HI! I think that an orbital is part of a subshell. So each electron (or electron pair) would go inside of the orbitals which are then inside of subshells. Hope this helps!

[Binyu You]

I believe in terms of n, l, and ml, the "n" refers to the first quantum number, which is the shell. "l" is the second quantum number, which is the subshell, and "ml" is the third quantum number, referring to as the oribital.

[Anastasia Yulo 1C]

This infograpgic was helpul to me when differentiating the terms: https://pediaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2 ... ummary.png

[Joanna Huang]

A subshell would be the "s,p,d,f", and the orbital is the magnetic quantum number.