Would someone please help! I honesty don't understand what this question is asking me.

In the molecule PCl3 , phosphorus makes three covalent bonds. Therefore, three of its five valence electrons need to be unpaired. The orbitals with the same energy are known as degenerate orbitals. For example, the p subshell has three degenerate orbital, namely, px, py, and pz.

How many degenerate orbitals are needed to contain five electrons with three of them unpaired?

Question

Would someone please help! I honesty don't understand what this question is asking me. 

In the molecule PCl3 , phosphorus makes three covalent bonds. Therefore, three of its five valence electrons need to be unpaired. The orbitals with the same energy are known as degenerate orbitals. For example, the p subshell has three degenerate orbital, namely, px, py, and pz.

How many degenerate orbitals are needed to contain five electrons with three of them unpaired?

aaronq · Answer

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