How many atomic orbitals does carbon access?

1 Answer
Junaid Mirza ยท Truong-Son N.
Jun 4, 2018

55

Explanation:

Electronic configuration of carbon (""_6"C"6C) is

"1s"^2\ "2s"^2\ "2p"^2

There are

  • Two s-orbitals ("1s", "2s")

  • Two incompletely filled p-orbitals ("2p"_(-1), "2p"_(+1))

  • One vacant p-orbital ("2p"_(0))

In total carbon has 5 atomic orbitals.

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