Question

Which statement about a 3p orbital is correct?
A. It can hold a maximum of 6 electrons
B. It has the highest energy of the orbitals with principal quantum number 3
C. It is at a higher energy level than a 3s orbital but has the same shape
D. It is occupied by one electron in an isolated phosphorus atom

Answer 1

To answer this, we should know how many orbitals are there in each type of orbitals (i.e. s, p, d and f). In case of p orbital, it has three orbitals. We know that each orbital occupies two electrons, which are anti parallelly aligned to each other. Now, you can get an idea about the total number of electrons p orbital will have.

Complete step by step solution:
We are well aware that the maximum number of electrons in the first shell is two, eight in the second shell, again eight in the third shell, eighteen in the fourth and fifth shell and thirty-two in the sixth shell and so on. And, each shell has a certain type of orbitals.
If you consider ‘n’ as the shell number, it will give the number of orbitals that are present in a shell.
So, in the first shell where, n is 1, we will have only one orbital i.e. the s orbital.
Whereas, in the second shell, where n is 2, the shell will have two orbitals i.e. s and p orbital.
Likewise, we can know how many orbitals are present in a shell.
Again, we are aware that each type of orbital has many suborbital. For example, p orbital has three types of orbitals that are, ${{p}_{x}}$, ${{p}_{y}}$and ${{p}_{z}}$. And we know that, each orbital can hold only two electrons i.e. one spin-up and one spin-down.
This basically means that the $1s$, $2s$, $3s$and so on will have two electrons in total as the s orbital has only one type of suborbital.
So, the p orbitals can hold six electrons because they have three suborbital and they can hold two electrons each i.e. $3\times 2=6electrons$.
Thus, the first statement is correct.

Hence, the correct option is A.

Note: The p orbitals are dumb-bell shaped and it can occupy a maximum of six electrons due to the presence of three orbitals i.e. ${{p}_{x}}$, ${{p}_{y}}$and ${{p}_{z}}$, which are oriented along the x, y and z-axis respectively. The three orbitals have identical size, shape and energy so, termed as degenerate orbitals.