Question ID.23 from Practice Problems

[Sydney Rohan 3G]

I am stuck on Question ID.23 from Practice Problems. The question asks:

How many orbitals can have the following quantum numbers in an atom: (a)n=2,l=1 (b)n=4,l=2 ml=-2 (c) n=2 (d) n=3,l=2,ml=1 ?

I am confused about what the question means by "How many orbitals." Is it asking me to find the number of orbitals using the equation: number of orbitals= 2(l)+1?

[Juliana Misirian]

For this question, you refer to FIG. 1D.3 in the textbook. So, for (a), you go to shell n=2 and subshell l=1. From this, you can see that there are 3 orbitals.

[Rena Wu 3E]

Hi Sydney! I believe you're basically looking for the number of possible values you could have as the 3rd quantum number, given the quantum numbers they've provided. So for part b) since the question gives you ml = -2, there is only one possible orbital you can have. But for part c) the question only gives n = 2, and in the 2nd energy level, you could have up to 4 orbitals. Hope this helps!