Pauli Exclusion Principle

The Pauli Exclusion Principle states that no two electrons in the same atom can have the same set of quantum numbers. This set is made up of

• Principal quantum number n: this is the shell around the atom where the electron exists. The shells are represented by whole numbers. n can be 1,2,3....
• Orbital quantum number l is the number of subshells within a shell. l can be 0,1... to (n-1)
• Magnetic quantum number m_l is the number of orbitals within the subshell. m_l can be 0,1...all the way to ⁺/_- l
• Spin quantum number m_s is the spin of the electron. there are two spins per subshell. they are represented by a +1/2 or -1/2

The Pauli exclusion principle follows from the requirement that fermions must have antisymmetric wavefunctions.

References[edit]

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