orbitals

[FrankieClarke2C]

Considering the 5th shell of an atom, how many orbitals would it contain?

[julia_lok_2K]

The principle quantum number is 5, so the possible l values are 0,1,2,3,4. The total possible ml values for each subshell, therefore, would be 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9, respectively, adding up to a total of 25 orbitals. However, since it involves the g subshell, I don't think you need to know this information.

[Daniel Chen 1B]

In Chemistry 14A, I think it was mentioned that we won't be going past the d orbital. I'm pretty sure we are only going up to the first line of the d-block?

[Ruby Tang 1E]

A simple trick to solve for the number of orbitals in the nth shell of an atom is to know that it is equal to n^2. So the 1st shell has 1 orbital, 2nd shell has 4, 3rd shell has 9, etc. You can also adjust this equation to 2n^2 to solve for the number of electrons that a given shell of an atom can hold.