An electron is a small, neutral particle that can exist in a position known as an orbit. There are just the right numbers of electrons in the universe to form an atom.
An electron can exist in a range of orbits called quantum states. The quantum state of an electron is mostly unchangeable. This is why there are two halves to an electron: the negative end and positive end.
The two sides of an atom are separated by a “shell” of positive charges that surround it, protecting it from Disappearing into Nothingness when not around something to influence it.
The simplist answer
An electron in the m-orbital position has only one option for moving around, which is to jump into a successful high-energy orbit. This happens when the electron encounters a positive electrical charge.
When this happens, the negative charge orbits the nucleus in a circular motion called an orbit. The process of having an orbiting electron is called energy extraction.
Once an orbiting electron has obtained enough energy, it can move on to another orbit. The trick is finding a way to get more of that energy into the electron.
Luckily, for molecules like ethanol, Mℓ can be very expensive.
More detailed answer
In an electron in an S orbital, the inner orbit width is longer than the length of the outer orbit width, so there is a small change in mass when they are in a lower orbit.
This mass change occurs because they have to juggle keeping their inner and outer orbits parallel while at the same time maintaining a certain distance from their neighbor atoms.
When two electrons occupy different orbits, they must balance out their energy differences. In the S orbital, this happens through small changes in momentum and energy.
An additional effect that occurs in this system is that when one electron moves to a new orbit, the other one has to move back into its place. This requires another change in energy, so it is no wonder that these electrons must maintain a higher mass for these movements.
The weirdness of quantum mechanics
In classical physics, an electron in the orbit e− is considered stationary and will stay in that position until another force, such as a photon, makes it change its path. Then it will follow that path until it dies.
This seems logical, because if you could move an electron around, you could do everything in the universe. But this is not possible due to the laws of quantum mechanics.
The term quantum mechanics came from its use in describing things that are not ordinary but rather wrong.
What about multiple electrons?
An important concept to understand about an atom is its valence energy. Valence energy is the place that a particle has to fit in for an object to have a shape and/or value to it.
Atomic particles have a valence energy that varies from atom to atom, so they have different values for electrons. For example, sodium has a valence energy of 7.2 eV, but when attached to another object, such as another sodium ion, it has a value of 13 eV.
Sodium is worth more than just 7 eV, so when it goes on an electron sits at 13 eV and this changes the shape of the nucleus. This creates some interesting properties at the atomic level, such as being able to electrically conduct heat!
These nuclei with unusual shapes can have unexpected values for electrons.
Could we ever measure this?
So far, we have only theories for what the value of an Mℓ in an S orbital is. However, these theories are very good ones!
We know that the S orbitals of atoms are filled with more electrons than filler atoms like helium or tritium. This is why they are more ionized than their non-ionized neighbors.
It is possible to measure the total number of electrons in an atom, so we can at least say that Mℓ has a positive value for this property.
