Question #5e8b7

1 Answer
Jan 15, 2017

There are 11 nodal planes in the third shell.

Explanation:

A nodal plane is a plane on which the probability of finding an electron is zero.

The third shell consists of all orbitals with principal quantum number #n = 3#.

The #"3s"# subshell

cronodon.com

A #"3s"# orbital has two spherical nodal surfaces, but it has no nodal planes.

The #"3p"# subshell

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Each of the three #"3p"# orbitals has a nodal plane perpendicular to its main axis.

The #"3d"# subshell

3d
(From 2012 Book Archive)

Four of the #"3d"# orbitals have two nodal planes each.

The #"3d"_z²# orbital has two conical planes but no nodal plane.

Thus, there are 11 nodal planes in the third shell.