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A quantum number beginning in n = 3,ℓ = 0, describes an electron in the s orbital of the third electron shell of an atom. In chemistry, this quantum number is very important, since it specifies the shape of an atomic orbital and strongly influences chemical bonds and bond angles. The azimuthal quantum number can also denote the number of ...
The simple names s orbital, p orbital, d orbital, and f orbital refer to orbitals with angular momentum quantum number ℓ = 0, 1, 2, and 3 respectively. These names, together with their n values, are used to describe electron configurations of atoms.
In quantum mechanics, the azimuthal quantum number ℓ is a quantum number for an atomic orbital that determines its orbital angular momentum and describes aspects of the angular shape of the orbital. The azimuthal quantum number is the second of a set of quantum numbers that describe the unique quantum state of an electron (the others being ...
The usual atomic term symbols assume LS coupling (also known as Russell–Saunders coupling), in which the atom's total spin quantum number S and the total orbital angular momentum quantum number L are "good quantum numbers". (Russell–Saunders coupling is named after Henry Norris Russell and Frederick Albert Saunders, who described it in 1925 [2]
An initial assumption is that the number of molecular orbitals is equal to the number of atomic orbitals included in the linear expansion. In a sense, n atomic orbitals combine to form n molecular orbitals, which can be numbered i = 1 to n and which may not all be the same. The expression (linear expansion) for the i th molecular orbital would be:
This notation is used to specify electron configurations and to create the term symbol for the electron states in a multi-electron atom. When writing a term symbol, the above scheme for a single electron's orbital quantum number is applied to the total orbital angular momentum associated to an electron state.
The factor of two arises because the number of allowed states doubles with each successive shell due to electron spin—each atomic orbital admits up to two otherwise identical electrons with opposite spin, one with a spin + 1 ⁄ 2 (usually denoted by an up-arrow) and one with a spin of − 1 ⁄ 2 (with a down-arrow).
The four quantum numbers n, ℓ, m, and s specify the complete and unique quantum state of a single electron in an atom, called its wave function or orbital. Two electrons belonging to the same atom cannot have the same values for all four quantum numbers, due to the Pauli exclusion principle .