orbit. If the numbers in this figure were correct, it would require among other things that the
terms should be smaller than the hydrogen terms corresponding to the same principal quantum number.
Fig. 3.
This would mean that the average effect of the inner electrons could be described as a repulsion greater than would occur if their total electrical charge were united in the nucleus. This, however, cannot be expected from our view of atomic structure. The fact that the last captured electron, at any rate for low values of
, revolves partly inside the orbits of the previously bound electrons will on the contrary involve that the presence of these electrons will give rise to a virtual repulsion which is considerably smaller than that which would be due to their combined charges. Instead of the curves drawn between points in [Fig. 2] which represent stationary states corresponding to the same value of the principal quantum number running from right to left, we obtain curves which run from left to right, as is indicated in [Fig. 3]. The stationary states are labelled with quantum numbers corresponding to the structure I have described. According to the view underlying [Fig. 2] the sodium spectrum might be described simply as a distorted hydrogen spectrum, whereas according to [Fig. 3] there is not only distortion but also complete disappearance of certain terms of low quantum numbers. It may be stated, that this view not only appears to offer an explanation of the magnitude of the terms, but that the complexity of the terms in the
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