Electrons are arranged within shells around the nucleus. The shells are regarded as energy levels. Each energy level has a principal quantum number n = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 with the shell n = 1 with the lowest energy and closest to the nucleus.
Electrons have properties of both waves and particles. The maximum number of electrons in a shell is given by 2n2. Each shell is subdivided into s, p, d or f sub-shells with slightly different energies. The sub-shells in the first four quantum shells are 1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p, 3d, 4s, 4p, 4d, 4f. The electron occupies a region in space called an orbital
An electron can be thought of as a cloud with the shape of an orbital called an electron cloud. There is one type of s orbital, three types of p orbital (px,py,pz ) with different orientations, five types of d orbitals and seven types of f orbitals each having a different shape.
Electrons have properties of both waves and particles. The maximum number of electrons in a shell is given by 2n2. Each shell is subdivided into s, p, d or f sub-shells with slightly different energies. The sub-shells in the first four quantum shells are 1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p, 3d, 4s, 4p, 4d, 4f. The electron occupies a region in space called an orbital
An orbital is a region in space where there is a 95% chance of finding the electron. An orbital can hold up to two electrons with opposite spins.
An electron can be thought of as a cloud with the shape of an orbital called an electron cloud. There is one type of s orbital, three types of p orbital (px,py,pz ) with different orientations, five types of d orbitals and seven types of f orbitals each having a different shape.
| sub-shell | number of orbitals |
| s | 1 |
| p | 3 |
| d | 5 |
| f | 7 |