The term degeneracy means the number of different quantum states of an atom or molecule having the same energy. For example, the degeneracy of the n = 2 level of the hydrogen atom is 4 (a 2s quantum state, and three different 2p states). What is the degeneracy of the n = 1 level?
I don't agree that the 2s and 2p levels have the same energy.
Yeah I was totally confused with this and I could not follow it in the book. This was a annoying problem.
To find the degeneracy of the n = 1 level of the hydrogen atom, we need to determine the number of different quantum states of the atom at that energy level.
In the case of the n = 1 level, there is only one possible quantum state, which is the 1s state. The 1s state corresponds to a single electron being in the lowest energy orbital, where the electron is closest to the nucleus.
Since there is only one quantum state at the n = 1 level, the degeneracy of the n = 1 level of the hydrogen atom is 1.