From Chemistry to Dying Stars

Abstract

With all the new atomic physics, it was not clear why there are chemical elements and why they differ from one another in their chemical properties. And neither was it clear why there is a periodic table. The principle of minimal energy claims that all systems tend to the lowest energy state. Hence in a system with many electrons, all electrons tend to the lowest energy state and, if allowed, all electrons will end up in the same ground state energy. Hence, all elements would behave in a very similar way. But this is not the case in Nature. There is a reason why there is a limit to the capacity of energy states, so that in a system of many electrons, not all the electrons find their way to the lowest energy state.