Which of the following violates the Pauli's exclusion principle?

(a) One orbital with two electrons having opposite spins (↑↓), one empty orbital

(b) One orbital with two electrons having opposite s

Question

Which of the following violates the Pauli's exclusion principle?

(a) One orbital with two electrons having opposite spins (↑↓), one empty orbital

(b) One orbital with two electrons having opposite spins (↑↓), one orbital with one up-spin, one orbital with one down-spin

(c) One orbital with two electrons having same spin (↑↑)

(d) One orbital with one up-spin, three orbitals each with one up-spin

Canvas Classes · Accepted Answer

Pauli's Exclusion Principle: No two electrons in an atom can have the same set of all four quantum numbers. Equivalently, an orbital can hold at most two electrons with opposite spins.

Evaluating each option:

- (a) One orbital with ↑↓ (opposite spins) — Allowed ✓
- (b) Orbitals with ↑↓, ↑, ↓ — Allowed ✓
- (c) One orbital with ↑↑ (same spin) — Violates Pauli's principle ✗ — two electrons in the same orbital must have opposite spins.
- (d) Each orbital has at most one electron — Allowed ✓

Final

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