subshell
7.8
Part of an atom's electron shell that holds a set number of electrons
- noun
- /ˈsʌbˌʃɛl/
- Specialized
:
subcapa
- If you had to add another electron to them, you would need to make a new subshell there, which they don't want to do.
Examples
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In chemistry, the subshell determines how the electrons are arranged around the nucleus.
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And there are other things about half filled shells and half filled subshells that appear when you start doing ligand field theory on these things.
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The d orbitals can hold a total of ten electrons within the subshell.
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Each subshell consists of groups of orbitals that define the electron's energy levels.
Synonyms
1
9.3
A part of an atom's electron shell that holds a type of orbital like s or p
focuses on orbitals of the same type and their electron capacity
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Subshell combines the prefix sub- meaning 'under' and shell meaning 'a layer or cover'. So a subshell is a smaller 'layer' inside an atom's main electron shell, which is why chemists use it for the parts that hold certain numbers of electrons.