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I am relaying this question from rtharbaugh1, who originally posted it to a thread in the Quantum Physics forum:
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=98040
Can any of you chemistry nerds answer this?
- Warren
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=98040
Originally posted by rtharbaugh1
I first read that paired electrons in an atomic shell must have opposite spin. Does this mean that a chemical bond will not form between, say, Na+ and Cl-, unless the two atoms have electrons of opposite spin? Wouldn't this mean that two such atoms brought sufficiently close together would only form a bond half the time? Can we manipulate single atoms of sodium and chlorine to test this idea? Has it been done?
Can any of you chemistry nerds answer this?
- Warren