ml

[Sophie Vikram 1L]

When determining ml do we go by the last fully filled orbital or just the last orbital. For instance, would the ml for 4d9 be +1 or +2. Also, what would be the ml for something like 3p3 where every orbital is half full?

[Angela Denvir 1H]

HI Sophie,
In lecture, Dr. Lavelle mentioned that the ml value is assigned somewhat arbitrarily between the orbitals in the subshell. So, the ml for 4d9 could be either as each orbital could be named +1 or +2, depending on which electron you are giving the location for. For half filled orbitals, the same is true. They do not generally have differences based on their ml value, other than the fact that they are spinning in different orbitals. Hope this helps!