Paired Electrons

[Anika Chakrabarti 1A]

I'm having a hard time visualizing the electron configurations that we learned about on Friday. What does it mean when two electrons are paired? How is this different than two electrons being parallel?

[Jessica Tran_3K]

When electrons are paired, that means they are in the same orbital and have opposite spin. When they are parallel, that means one electron is in each different orbital and they have the same spin.

[Alice Chang 2H]

Someone asked a similar question earlier, here's a link to the thread:
https://lavelle.chem.ucla.edu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31218

Hope it helps!

[HuyHa_2H]

To add on to that, each orbital is placed one electron at a time. When all of the orbitals have been placed and there are still more electrons, then each one will be paired up with each electron that was already placed in the orbitals.

[CynthiaLy4F]

When electrons are paired, they occupy the same orbital with opposite spin. There can be no more than 2 electrons in an orbital based on the Pauli Exclusion Principle. When electrons are parallel, they occupy different orbitals with the same spin. This occurs because there is electron repulsion between electrons of the same shell, which is why electrons fill the orbitals with the lowest energy first.

[Rhea Shah 2F]

Electrons are paired when they occupy the same orbital and have opposite spin. Electrons with parallel spins tend to avoid each other slightly, which lowers the energy of the electrons. Thus, paired electrons should have opposite spin to maximize the energy of the electrons.