Created by jrose,
last updated
2015-11-13
"That we understand the origins of periodicity in terms of some rather simple ideas about how electrons arrange themselves around nuclei so as to achieve the lowest energy subject to certain constraints (ie the Pauli principle) means that we understand the personalities of the elements. Chemistry deals with entities that have personalities rather than their component parts, and it is right, I think, to present systematic as a story of the interaction of personalities."
