Question

How many subshells are there in the M shell?
A.) 4
B.) 3
C.) 6
D.) 5

Answer 1

Hint: Each shell can contain only a fixed number of electrons. The first shell can hold up to two electrons, the second shell can hold up to eight electrons, the third shell can hold up to 18 and so on. Now, you should use these hints to find the subshells of the M shell.

Complete step by step answer:

We should know that an electron shell may be thought of as an orbit followed by electrons around an atom's nucleus.
The closest shell to the nucleus is called the "1st shell" (also called the "K shell"), followed by the "2nd shell" (or "L shell"), then the "3rd shell" (or "M shell"), and so on farther and farther from the nucleus.
Each shell consists of one or more subshells, and each subshell consists of one or more atomic orbitals.
The "n" is a quantum number that tells us not only which level but how many subshells are possible.
If "n" = 1, there is only one possible subshell (1s)
If "n" = 2, there are two possible subshells (2s, 2p)
If "n" = 3, there are three possible subshells (3s, 3p, 3d)
Any "n" can only contain that many possible subshells.

Therefore, we can conclude the correct answer to this question is option B.

Note: The existence of electron shells was first observed experimentally in Charles Barkla's and Henry Moseley's X-ray absorption studies. Barkla labeled them with the letters K, L, M, N, O, P, and Q.