Like why are there two shells sometimes and three shells other times? Why are there different numbers of electrons on one shell than others? And what’s in between the protons and electrons?
I’m a little stoney and just can’t comprehend how something at this small of a scale has these “laws of nature.” Idk… hard to explain why this is fascinating me but it is. Especially the space in between the protons and electrons. Like are we all just empty space floating around?
In: Chemistry
Electrons are not little “balls of negative-ness”. They have wave-like properties. They can only “orbit” (that’s not how it really works) when there are an integral number of wavelengths in the path. Because they have spin (another property particles can have) it’s possible for up to exactly two electrons to share an orbital path.
The orbital shells aren’t all spheres, many of them have a figure 8 shape, and since three figure eights can be aligned along independent dimensions of out 3D space, layers with 6 electrons can also be built. These structures combine to force electrons into specific “slots”, defined by geometry, rather than any-old-arrangement-you-like.
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