Question

What does the magnetic quantum number specifies ?

Answer 1

Quantum number

1. The position and energy of an electron in an atom is described by the quantum number. There are four quantum number namely principal, azimuthal, magnetic and spin quantum numbers
2. Principle quantum number describes about energy of an electron and size of the orbital in which electron is placed.
3. Azimuthal quantum number is also known as orbital angular momentum quantum number. This is expresses in of number of angular nodes. This determines the shape of an orbital therefore the angular distribution.
4. The magnetic quantum number determines the number of orbitals and their orientation within a sub-shell.
5. Spin quantum number designates the direction of the electron spin.

Hence, magnetic quantum number specifies orientation of orbitals in space.