What is Pauli's Exclusion Principle?

1 Answer
Truong-Son N.
Apr 23, 2018

The Pauli Exclusion Principle states that no two electrons may occupy the same quantum state. If they do, the total wave function must vanish.

When two electrons are in the same orbital, they must share all BUT ONE quantum number, and four are required to specify a quantum state. The remaining one is the spin quantum number, #m_s = pm1/2#.

So we then have that this configuration is allowed:

#ul(uarr darr)#

For this, #m_s(1) = +1/2# and #m_s(2) = -1/2#.

And this configuration is forbidden:

#ul(uarr uarr)#

For this, #m_s(1) = +1/2# and #m_s(2) = +1/2#...

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