The allegory not only draws on the theory of forms, but it is connected both to the concept of forms and Plato's theory of the stages of life. 1  At the lowest stage, the cognitive stage of imagination (in Greek, eikasia), the prisoners exist bound and hindered in their perspective.
Since any orbital can hold a maximum of two electrons, the bonding orbital in H 2 + is only half-full. This single electron is nevertheless enough to lower the potential energy of one mole of hydrogen nuclei pairs by 270 kJ quite enough to make them stick together and behave like a distinct molecular species.
In a noble gas, an atom tends to have 8 electrons in its outer shell (except helium, which is only able to fill its shell with 2 electrons). This serves as the model for the octet rule which is mostly applicable to main group elements of the second and third periods.