Answer to Question #283238 in General Chemistry for Mars

Question

Can an e- be described by the following set of quantum numbers? If not, indicate which of the quantum numbers has a value that is not valid: n=2, ℓ =1, ml= -1, ms= +1/2

Answer 1

atom contains a system of orbitals. There are different types of orbitals at different principal energy levels and some orbitals are degenerate, so they appear multiple times at the same principal energy level. Into this system is inserted a set of electrons and each electron gets its own set of four quantum numbers. The first three numbers in this sequence have related allowed values. The fourth number has only two allowed values, regardless of the values of the previous three numbers.