Since there can be <-ℓ, ℓ> orientations and since the orbital type f has ℓ = 3, we should have 7 possible orientations with 2 spins, so $7 imes 2 = 14$, so I thought the correct answer was D (14).

You are watching: How many electrons in f orbital

However, I got it wrong and the correct answer is marked as C (2). Is it an error in the test, or am I missing something?

You"re correct that there are seven possible spatial orientations for an f-type orbital, and hence seven possible orbitals in one f-type sub-shell. However, the question specifically asks for the maximum number of electrons in one such orbital, and any single atomic orbital, regardless of the sub-shell type specified by $l$, can only hold two electrons. This is by virtue of the Pauli exclusion principle. Fourteen would be the maximum number of electrons across an entire f-type sub-shell, but the question only asks about one orbital.

The question specifically ask that no.of electron an orbital of f subshell can hold.... As we know that f subshell contain 7 orbital and each orbital can hold maximum 2 electons so correct answer would be 2..we can simply understand this by taking the real life example imagine that there is house named f which consists of 7 rooms so similarly in this case house is a subshell and each room is an orbital... Thank you,

Thanks for contributing an answer to jajalger2018.org Stack Exchange!

But avoid

Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.

Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.

See more: How To Make Ephedrine From Scratch, Pseudephedrine Made Easy