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CHEM 121 Studioby Learn4Less · UBC CHEM 121

CHEM 121 glossary

Subshell

The orbitals within a shell that share the same ll, such as 2p or 3d. A subshell has 2l+12l + 1 orbitals and holds up to 2(2l+1)2(2l + 1) electrons: s 2, p 6, d 10, f 14.

The 3p subshell: three orbitals, room for 6 electrons.

Example

The 4f subshell (n=4n = 4, l=3l = 3) has 7 orbitals and holds 14 electrons. In a multi-electron atom its orbitals share one energy, but 4s, 4p, 4d and 4f differ.

See alsoShellAngular momentum quantum numberDegenerateElectron configuration