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

Jun 30, 2016

$4$

#### Explanation:

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

$\textcolor{b l u e}{| \overline{\underline{\textcolor{w h i t e}{\frac{a}{a}} \text{no. of orbitals} = {n}^{2} \textcolor{w h i t e}{\frac{a}{a}} |}}}$

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

$\text{no. of orbitals} = {2}^{2} = 4$

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: $2 s$
• three orbitals in the p-subshell: $2 {p}_{x}$, $2 {p}_{y}$, $2 {p}_{z}$

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

${\text{2 e"^(-)"/orbital" xx "4 orbitals" = "8 e}}^{-}$