Hund's rule of maximum multiplicity

Rule used to predict the ground state of an atom or molecule with open electron shells

Hund's rule of maximum multiplicity is a rule based on observation of atomic spectra, which is used to predict the ground state of an atom or molecule with one or more open electronic shells. The rule states that for a given electron configuration, the lowest energy term is the one with the greatest value of spin multiplicity. This implies that if two or more orbitals of equal energy are available, electrons will occupy them singly before filling them in pairs. The rule, discovered by Friedrich Hund in 1925, is of important use in atomic chemistry, spectroscopy, and quantum chemistry, and is often abbreviated to Hund's rule, ignoring Hund's other two rules.

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