The Aufbau Principle as Displayed in the HBLL

Not only does the BYU library provide an environment conducive to studying for American Heritage or Econ 110, it is also an excellent laboratory to research human nature.The more I observe my fellow students, the more I believe that we are basically large electrons. Well, not exactly. But it makes for an interesting discussion.

Anyone who has taken chemistry is familiar with the Aufbau or building-up principle. To summarize, there are several different electron shells within an atom. Inside these electron shells are several electron orbitals, each of which holds two electrons. The building-up principle states that before two electrons will be in the same orbital, each orbital must have one electron. So it is at the library. The many tables scattered throughout the various floors of our second home are electron orbitals just waiting to welcome us students as electrons. Before two students will sit at the same table, each table must have at least one student. And once the tables all have one student and the next poor, unsuspecting scholar comes along to study, he or she will almost always choose the most energetically stable location for study - that of the seat diagonal to the student that is already there. And preferably the other student is a member of the same gender, because it is energetically unstable to study in the vicinity of a potential dating opportunity.  

Most of the time, library tables only have room for two students. Under extreme circumstances, however (such as midterms or finals) the library tables suddenly develop something akin to an expanded octet, and they can hold three - or even four - students. That's definitely a good thing - I doubt we'd all fit if the tables weren't  willing to expand for us.

It's quite fascinating what you can learn about student-electrons when you should really be studying physics or something like that . . .