Asked by Sarah

I'm having trouble with knowing the relations between quantum numbers n, l, m(sub l), and m(sub s). Could you please explain?

Answers

Answered by DrBob222
Remember this. It will do it all.
n = principle quantum number. May take any whole number beginning with 1.
l = azimuthal quantum number. May be any whole number beginning with 0 with a maximum of n-1.
m(l) = magnetic quantum number. May take any whole value from -l(ell) to +l(ell) including zero.
m(s) = spin quantum number. May be either +1/2 or -1/2.
Example: for n = 1
l may be 0 (nothing else)
m(l) = 0 (nothing else)
m(s) = +1/2 or -1/2
So for the single electron in H,(1s1),
n = 1
l = 0
m(l) = 0
m(s) = +1/2

For He (1s2),
One electron has the above as in H and other one is exactly the same EXCEPT it has m(s) = -1/2

For n = 2, then
l may be 0 or 1
m(l) may be 0 for the l = 0 and it may be -1, 0, +1 for the l = 1
and m(s) may be +1/2 or -1/2 for each of the m(l) values. Notice that there are 4 m(l) values and two electrons in each which allows 8 electrons in n=2 but you already knew there were 8 electrons for n =2 didn't you.
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