No two electrons in an atom can be at the same time in the same state or configuration.
One thing many students, myself included, find frustrating while studying science at the lower levels is that it has no application in our lives. This is ironic, since science essentially tries to explain the phenomena that we observe and helps us to understand it better; and yet we find this study totally detached from our lives.
The rare occasions that we see the congruence of what we study and what we actually experience or observe brings delight to many of us. I believe it is for this reason that some among us have chosen to make the pursuit of science their life.
I, however, belong the the thick-skulled variety who until now, am hardly impressed to what this pursuit has to offer. Having said that, I still appreciate science at a level that some may regard as blasphemy.
I came across this principle sometime in my physics syllabus. My reflection on this has led me to stray quite some distance away from the original definition. I muse at how in many ways we humans behave like these electrons - particles of such miniscule proportions that they do not seem to affect our lives at all. By ourselves, we behave in a certain way when nobody is watching and our actions seem to be of no consequence of others. Coming together, we appear to change very drastically, taking on characteristics that were unknown to our private selves and start to behave differently. Yet once again as we come apart we return to this familiar and comfortable state. Unlike from a scientist's viewpoint, I do not have theories to prove why this is so or seek to explain it. All I have to offer is my appreciation for this strange, inexplicable, yet inherent phenomenon in our daily lives
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