Quantum # L

[Ivy Nguyen 3I]

Hi! There was a question on the textbook problems I think that asked what the possible quantum # l is for when n=7 and the answer is 6 but I'm having a hard time understanding this conceptually. Are there an infinite amount of subshells like s, p, d, f that come after those basic ones? Thank you!

[Ryan Khiev 1L]

Hi Ivy,

I'm not sure if I'll be answering your question with complete certainty, but I remember hearing in lecture that s, p, d, and f orbitals are just the configurations we use for atoms in their ground state. Since atoms can be excited to higher levels, there are actually more orbitals, such as a g orbital. However, I'm pretty sure we don't need to worry about that.

Hopefully this helps :D

[Rachel Fox - 3F]

In the ground state electron configurations, electrons occupy the s, p, d, and f orbitals. However, there are other orbitals such as the g orbitals and beyond that electrons in excited states can jump to. So, when n=7 and l=0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, there are 7 different orbitals electrons could be in, it is just that electrons in the ground state are usually in orbitals 0, 1, 2, and 3 (s, p, d, and f).

[Holly Do 2J]

Hello,

To explain the reason why l=6 when n=7, it is because the value of l can be any value where l=n-1. In this case since n=7, l can be l = 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.

To the second part of your question, yes there are more subshells than the one we learned in class, but I believe that we only need to know the basic ones like s, p, d, f.

[Omar Alkhalili 1J]

Hello! Yes, there are more subshells than the ones we learned in class, but l is always capped at n-1, and the maximum value for l will never be higher or lower than that. Hope this helps!

[Irene Kim 3E]

Hi,

To add on to what others have said, it also helps to understand the 'formulas' for each quantum number {n, l, m_l, m_s}. Given the exact value of one or more of these quantum numbers, you can determine the possible values for the other quantum numbers. The principal quantum number, n, represents the shell or energy level that the electron is in. l can be any discrete value less than n, m_l can range from -l to +l, and m_s is always +1/2 or -1/2.

Therefore, in the given problem n=7, so l can be any value from 0 to 6. Hope this helps!

[Grant_2A]

Hey,

as people have been saying, there are more subshells than the ones we use/learned in class, but the value for L is always going to be capped by n-1, and then L will have values from n-1 down to 0. So an example would be if n=4, then L could have the possible values of 3,2,1,0. Hope this helps!

[Isela Tamayo 3H]

since l=6 then the possible numbers l can be is the range between 0-6