Question

If each orbital can hold a maximum of 3 electrons. The number of elements in 2nd period of periodic table (long form) is? Why? Please explain.

Answer 1

First we need to calculate :

i) No of subshells

ii) No of orbitals

iii) No of elements

Formula to calculate the number of subshell if number of period is known :

If number of period is even : (n+2)/2

If number of period is odd : (n+1)/2

Here it's the second case i.e,

the number of period is even=2

Therefore (n+2)/2 = (2+2)/2 = 2

Which means it consists 2 types of subshell

Thus no of orbitals in various subshell are :

s= 1 orbital

p= 3 orbitals

Therefore total no of orbital are 4

Thus maximum no. of elements = 4×3 =12