An example of a teaching analogy:
"Hund's Rule states that in order for electrons to be in a state of lowest energy, no electron pairing takes place until each orbital in the sublevel contains one electron.
If the empty seats on a bus represent the available orbitals in a given sublevel, one would normally observe that strangers would tend to sit in separate seats until all the seats contain one person, then begin pairing up.
A stranger who came and sat on your seat even though other empty seats were available, might put you into an anxious or 'excited' state since you would be wishing the person would move to an unoccupied seat."
Previously posted at scienceanalogies.com by retired science teacher Murray Hart – original source: Goh, Ngoh Khang; Chia, Lian Sai; and Tan, Daniel. Some Analogies for Teaching Atomic Structure at the High School Level Journal of Chemical Education September 1994, 71(9), p.733
A stranger who sits next to you on the bus when there are double seats free behaves like an electron that disobeys one of Hund's rules
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