Quantum Number ml

[Tracy Tran 3L]

I don't understand what ml means in terms of quantum numbers, would someone be able to explain to me? I know that l=0 is 1 orbital and so on, but I don't know what ml means in general

[Chance Lee 1G]

The quantum number ml stands for the magnetic quantum number. The magnetic quantum number helps determine an orbital's orientation. In particular, the values for ml are -l to l, which can be helpful in determining the number of orientations a certain orbital has. For example, if l=2, then the possible values for ml are -2 to 2. This is -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, which when counted equals 5.

[Janice Hu 2L]

ml, or the magnetic quantum number, tells the orientation of an orbital in space. This number is assigned to every orbital in a subshell, and it ranges from -l to l.
Example:
subshell 3p => have: 3 orbitals => (l = 1) => magnetic quantum numbers: -1, 0, 1 => we have 3 ml numbers, and each is assigned to an orbital :)

[Mona Reddy Kurra 1J]

Hi! The magnetic quantum number, ml, specifies which orbital an electron is a part of. While n describes the shell and l describes the subshell, ml refers to which of the orbitals in a subshell that an electron occupies. Another point to note may be that ml is based on energy as we are trying to get net zero energy across the board to balance charges of electrons in the orbital. I hope that helps!

[Chris Van 2J]

ml is the magnetic quantum number where the range can be from -l to l. l = angular momentum number where it tells you which subshell the electrons are in (s, p, d, f).

[Jieun 2C]

Ml is the magnetic quantum number and it specifies which orbital the electron is in and the orientation.

[Charlie Gravereaux]

The quantum number ml is the magnetic quantum number. This gives the exact location of the electron within its subshell, or gives the electron an exact orbital that it is filling. For example, for the p subshell, there are 3 orbitals: Px, Py, and Pz. This leaves 3 different possibilities for the ml quantum number (since it refers to which orbital), and this is described using 1, 0, and -1 (each refers to a different orbital). This same concept is applied for the other sub shells.

[Ana Luiza S]

The quantum number ml labels the different orbitals in a subshell. So for the p sublevel, there are 3 different orbitals, meaning there are 3 different values of ml for the p sublevel. And then 5 for the d shells, and so on.

[Nomi Heidari-Bateni 2K]

ml is the magnetic quantum number, which can range from -l to l and it labels each orbital in one subshell (for example, it defines the difference between px, py, and pz). It helps us get more specific in which electron we are identifying.