Why can’t there be more than 2 electrons in an orbital?
In: Physics
It’s a result of the Pauli Exclusion Principle, that no two elections can have the exact same quantum state. Electrons in the same orbital will have identical quantum numbers except for their spin. The two electrons must have different spins to occupy the same orbital, and there are only two possible options for spin: up or down. Adding a third electron into the orbital would require two of them to have identical quantum states, which isn’t possible.
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