The author read about the Pauli exclusion principle on Wikipedia and quickly realized that the word “exclusion” could be combined with the word “sex” to create a new word: “sexclusion.” This was the comedic spark he needed in order to create another scientific-concept-transposed-into-real-life cartoon.
The Pauli exclusion principle is a quantum mechanical principle that states that “no two identical fermions may occupy the same quantum state simultaneously”. This principle in used in explaining the distribution of electrons (fermions) or electron pairs within atomic orbitals (a quantum state).
In order to represent these complex scientific concepts in terms of geek sex and relationships, the author substituted the “electron pairs” for romantic pairs and the “orbitals” for dorm rooms. If one were to force this metaphor sufficiently, one could represent a non-paired electron that is pushed to the outer-most orbital as a single college student made to sleep on a couch. With a bit more forcing one could correlate the low restfulness of a particular orbital with that of a couch, which is not an ideal resting place for a human.
