How many p-orbitals are there in each period? How many p-orbitals are there in each period?a. 1b. 3c. 5d. 7e. 14


I take this to mean "how many p-orbitals are there in each period of the periodic table?" Looking at the p-block on the periodic table, it looks like there are 6 elements with p-orbitals per period. This isn't an answer, so I'm a little lost.
For the p subshell, the azimuthal quantum number, which describes the angular momentum and shape of the orbitals, is $l=1$. For the associated magnetic quantum number, discrete values in the range $-l, -l+1, ... 0 ..., l-1, l$ are allowed, so the number of different $m_l$ values is $2l+1$.

With $l=1$, it follows that there are $2 \cdot 1+1=3$ p orbitals with the $m_l$ values of -1, 0 and +1, respectively. Each orbital can hold 2 electrons, so the p subshell can contain a maximum of 6 electrons. This also explains why there are 6 elements in the p block of each period. With increasing atomic number $Z$, one p electron is added per element in this block.