Question

How many nodal surface $\left(\mathrm{s}\right)$ can $5\mathrm{s}$ orbital can have?

Answer 1

1. The nodal surfaces are those in which the value of wave function and probability to find an electron is zero.
2. Formula: The number of nodal surfaces can be calculated by the formula ($\mathrm{n}-\mathrm{l}-1$). Here $\text{'}\mathrm{n}\text{'}$ is the principal quantum number and $\text{'}\mathrm{l}\text{'}$ is the azimuthal quantum number.
3. The value of $\text{'}\mathrm{n}\text{'}$ for $5\mathrm{s}$ orbital is $5$and the value of $\text{'}\mathrm{l}\text{'}$ for $\text{'}\mathrm{s}\text{'}$ orbital is $0$. Thus the number of nodal surfaces is:

$\begin{array}{rcl}\mathrm{Nodal}\mathrm{surface}& =& \mathrm{n}-\mathrm{l}-1\\ & =& 5-0-1\\ & =& 4\end{array}$

4. Hence, $5\mathrm{s}$ orbital can have 4 nodal surfaces,