Orbital Angular Momentum
If we use the right formula we can also obtain the Orbital Angular momentum of an electron. As we have already learned that angular momentum is quantized so to make things simpler here we make use of orbital quantum number ‘l’ instead of ‘n’. The formula is given as :
L = √l(l+1)h
This makes it easier to calculate the orbital angular momentum of any orbit in an atom. Let’s go through some examples and find orbital angular momentum of p and d electrons.
Orbital Angular Momentum of p-electron
In an atom, electrons are present in different shells and each shell is divided into subshells named s,p,d and f, based on the shape of the orbital in which electrons move. The quantum number of p orbital is ‘1’. So using the formula we learned before and putting l = 1 we get,
L = √1(1+1)h = √2h
This is the magnitude of the angular momentum of an electron in p orbital.
Orbital Angular Momentum of d-electron
In case for d orbital, we have quantum number ‘l’ = ‘2’. Now using the same formula for orbital angular momentum, L = √l(l+1)h we get,
L = √2(2+1)h = √6h
As we can clearly observe this value is higher than that of p- electrons which reflects the more complex spatial arrangement and higher angular momentum associated with d-electrons.
Angular Momentum of Electron
In the world of physics, angular momentum helps us understand how objects behave when they rotate. It is not only limited to big objects like planets but it also helps us gain insight into the motion of smaller particles such as electrons. Let’s understand angular momentum of an electron with the basic introduction of momentum in this article.
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