Question

The shape of the orbital is given by:
(A) spin quantum number
(B) magnetic quantum number
(C)azimuthal quantum number
(D) principal quantum number

Answer 1

The shape of the orbitals depends on the value of l whether it is spherically symmetrical, dumble -bell-shaped, double -dumbbell-shaped or doughnut-shaped and so on. Then, identify the quantum number which is indicated by l.

Complete step by step solution:
-By the term orbital, we mean the three-dimensional space around the nucleus where the probability of finding the electrons is maximum and according to this, the electron can be anywhere in this region and an orbital can accommodate a maximum of two electrons.
-Orbitals have different shapes. s orbital is spherically symmetrical, p- orbital is dumbbell -bell-shaped etc.
-Now, we should know what the quantum number is. It tells us that the electron in an atom can be characterized by the four numbers which are known as the quantum numbers which are designated as n, l, m and s. Here, n represents the principal quantum number, l is the azimuthal quantum, m is the magnetic quantum number and s is the spin quantum number.
-The quantum number n indicates the energy level which an electron occupies and tells us about the shell to which electron belongs. The shell with n=1 is called the first shell, n=2 is called the second shell and so on.
-The quantum number l indicates= about the subshell to which an electron belongs and tells us about the shape of the orbital. If l=0, it is spherical shaped(s-orbital)
L=1, it is dumble-bell shaped (p-orbital)
L=3, it is double dumbbell-shaped (d-orbital)
L=4, it has a complex shape (f-orbital)
-The quantum number m indicates=about the orientation of the electron in the presence of the magnetic field and for each value of l, it has values ranging from -l to 0 to +l.
-The quantum number s indicates= about the spin orientation of the electron and the electron-spin can be either in a clockwise or anticlockwise direction.
So, the shape of the orbital is given by l i.e. the azimuthal quantum number.

Hence, option (C) is correct.

Note: The azimuthal quantum number, l depends on the principal quantum number, n and for each value of n there are n values of l and different values of l are designated by the letters s, p, d, f, g, and so on.