Electron

lightweight, stable elementary particle belonging to the class of leptons. It is a basic constituent of atoms, making up the atomic shell. The electron resting mass is 9.110 x 10^-28 grams and its charge, the so-called elementary or electronic charge e = -1.602 10^-19coulomb. The electron spin s is 1/2, and therefore electrons are fermions obeying the Pauli exclusion principle and are distributed according to the Fermi Dirac distribution. The electron magnetic moment is 9.285 10^-24 Am². The angular momentum and the energy of electrons bound to atomic nuclei depend on quantum numbers defined by quantum theory (see hydrogen H ).