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52 votes
2 answers
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Is there a good mathematical explanation for why orbital lengths in the periodic table are perfect squares doubled?

$\DeclareMathOperator\SO{SO}\newcommand{\R}{\mathbb{R}}\newcommand{\S}{\mathbb{S}}$The periodic table of elements has row lengths $2, 8, 8, 18, 18, 32, \ldots $, i.e., perfect squares doubled. The ...
Eugene Stern's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
398 views

Mathematical explanation of orbital shell sizes: why is it sufficient to consider single-electron wave functions?

Motivation The question "Is there a good mathematical explanation for why orbital lengths in the periodic table are perfect squares doubled?" asks for an explanation of the sequence 2, 8, 8, ...
Dan Romik's user avatar
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