system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
If a electron is in constant motion, how can two atoms bind it at the same time?

I'm confused, because I heard on several occasions the absolute statment, that you can't locate a single electron. But when 2 atoms attract the same valence electron, shouldn't it balance out with a very limited space left for vibrations?
gpt
Electrons are not solid little balls. They are quantum objects that are somewhat wave-like and somewhat particle-like, but actually something more complex. When bound stably in an atom or molecule, an electron acts mostly like a wave. The electron's wavefunction of an electron in a stable state oscillates like a string, but the magnitude-squared of the wavefunction is constant in time. Therefore, when you hear a statement like "an electron in an atom is in constant motion", you should have a mental picture more like a wave on a guitar string as it vibrates, and not that of a solid little ball flying around in circles. When an electron is shared by two atoms, it simply takes a 3D wave shape that spreads out over both atoms. This wave shape to the electron is called a "molecular orbital".