is Planck’s constant; further, the stability is determined by the condition that the total energy of the system is less than in any neighbouring configuration satisfying the same condition of the angular momentum of the electrons.
In [§3] the configuration to be expected for a hydrogen molecule is discussed in some detail.
[§4] deals with the mode of formation of the systems. A simple method of procedure is indicated, by which it is possible to follow, step by step, the combination of two atoms to form a molecule. The configuration obtained will be shown to satisfy the conditions used in [§2]. The part played in the considerations by the angular momentum of the electrons strongly supports the validity of the main hypothesis.
[§5] contains a few indications of the configurations to be expected for systems containing a greater number of electrons.
[§2. Configurations and Stability of the Systems.]
Let us consider a system consisting of two positive nuclei of equal charges and a ring of electrons rotating round the line connecting them. Let the number of electrons in the ring be
, the charge of an electron
