Question

Question #03743

Answer 1

`6` electrons per energy level starting with the second energy level.

Explanation:

The angular momentum quantum number, `l`, describes the energy subshell in which an electron is located inside an atom.

In your case, `l=1` describes the `p` subshell.

Now, in order to figure out the number of electrons that can have `l=1`, i.e. the number of electrons that can occupy a `p` subshell, you must first determine the number of orbitals that are present in this subshell.

The number of orbitals present in a given subshell can be calculated by using

`"no. of orbitals" = 2l + 1`

In your case, you have

`"no. of orbitals" = 2 * 1 +1 = 3`

This means that a `p` subshell, regardless of the energy level on which it is located (for energy levels that are `>1`, of course), can hold `3` orbitals.

According to Pauli's Exclusion Principle, each orbital can hold a maximum of `2` electrons, one having spin-up and one having spin-down.

You can thus say that a `p` subshell can hold a maximum of

`3 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("orbitals"))) * "2 e"^(-)/(1color(red)(cancel(color(black)("orbital")))) = "6 e"^(-)`

Therefore, you can say that `6` electrons can share `l=1` per energy level.