Swiss scientists have combined two materials with advantageous electronic properties—graphene and molybdenite—into a flash memory prototype that is very promising in terms of performance, size, flexibility and energy ...
Nanophysics
Mar 19, 2013
5
0
Scientists have measured the highest toughness ever recorded, of any material, while investigating a metallic alloy made of chromium, cobalt, and nickel (CrCoNi). Not only is the metal extremely ductile—which, in materials ...
Analytical Chemistry
Dec 8, 2022
7
2383
There is now a new addition to the magnetic family: thanks to experiments at the Swiss Light Source SLS, researchers have proved the existence of altermagnetism. The experimental discovery of this new branch of magnetism ...
Condensed Matter
Feb 14, 2024
1
697
New findings from an international collaboration led by Canadian scientists may eventually lead to a theory of how superconductivity initiates at the atomic level, a key step in understanding how to harness the potential ...
Superconductivity
Feb 4, 2016
17
6469
(Phys.org)—Unraveling the complexities of spin-orbital coupling could someday lead to new high-temperature superconductors and workable quantum computers via an elusive phase of matter called a "quantum spin liquid." Two ...
Condensed Matter
Dec 13, 2012
0
0
Atoms are composed of electrons moving around a central nucleus to which they are bound. The electrons can also be torn away via the powerful electric field of a laser, overcoming the confining force of their nucleus. A half-century ...
General Physics
Apr 16, 2018
2
4374
A team led by Carnegie's Thomas Shiell and Timothy Strobel developed a new method for synthesizing a novel crystalline form of silicon with a hexagonal structure that could potentially be used to create next-generation electronic ...
Condensed Matter
Jun 4, 2021
0
1922
Scientists have theorized that organometallic halide perovskites— a class of light harvesting "wonder" materials for applications in solar cells and quantum electronics— are so promising due to an unseen yet highly controversial ...
Condensed Matter
Apr 17, 2020
10
914
(Phys.org)—Researchers have developed the first imaging technique that can clearly see inside molecular structures, and have used it to create 3D holograms of the atomic arrangements inside these structures. Before now, ...
In physics, it is well-known that electrons behave very differently in three dimensions, two dimensions or one dimension. These behaviours give rise to different possibilities for technological applications and electronic ...
General Physics
Nov 12, 2018
0
4476
In atomic physics and quantum chemistry, electron configuration is the arrangement of electrons of an atom, a molecule, or other physical structure. It concerns the way electrons can be distributed in the orbitals of the given system (atomic or molecular for instance).
Like other elementary particles, the electron is subject to the laws of quantum mechanics, and exhibits both particle-like and wave-like nature. Formally, the quantum state of a particular electron is defined by its wave function, a complex-valued function of space and time. According to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, the position of a particular electron is not well defined until an act of measurement causes it to be detected. The probability that the act of measurement will detect the electron at a particular point in space is proportional to the square of the absolute value of the wavefunction at that point.
An energy is associated to each electron configuration and, upon certain conditions, electrons are able to move from one orbital to another by emission or absorption of a quantum of energy, in the form of a photon.
Knowledge of the electron configuration of different atoms is useful in understanding the structure of the periodic table of elements. The concept is also useful for describing the chemical bonds that hold atoms together. In bulk materials this same idea helps explain the peculiar properties of lasers and semiconductors.
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