Question

How many total orbitals are within the 2s and 2p sublevels of the second energy level?

Answer 1

`4`

Explanation:

You can calculate the number of orbitals present on a given energy level `n` by using the equation

`color(blue)(|bar(ul(color(white)(a/a)"no. of orbitals" = n^2color(white)(a/a)|)))`

In this case, the second energy level, which is characterized by `n=2`, will have a total of

`"no. of orbitals" = 2^2 = 4`

The second energy level will thus have a total of `4` orbitals. These orbitals will be distributed on two subshells, the s-subshell and the p-subshell.

You can thus say that the second energy level will contain

• one orbital in the s-subshell: `2s`
• three orbitals in the p-subshell: `2p_x`, `2p_y`, `2p_z`

Since each orbital can hold a maximum of `2` electrons, you an say that the second energy level can hold a maximum of

`"2 e"^(-)"/orbital" xx "4 orbitals" = "8 e"^(-)`