Electron configuration, or why I love what I do.
One of my favorite things to teach is electron configuration. I feel like I do a pretty good job of breaking down a relatively abstract topic and making it something they can relate to. I give the “bus seat” example for Hund’s Rule: I explain how antisocial passengers(electrons) will not pair up until all seats(an orbital’s subshells) are occupied. I then throw in the Pauli Exclusion Principle by saying that on the Electron Configuration Bus, each pair of seats has one seat facing forward and one facing backward.
I just received an email this afternoon from one of my students titled “Pauli Exclusion Prinicple!!!”with a picture attached. It was of four of my chemistry students on their bus ride home, one sitting forward and one sitting backward in each two-seat bench. So. Adorable. It was the perfect thing to see at the end of a long Friday.
