electron jump

In this case the circuit is open, resulting in the electron jump at top.

Less energy would thus be needed to make this electron jump to a higher level compared to an electron that started closer to the nucleus.

The creation of the correct solvent arrangement and the electron jump are decoupled and do not happen in a synchronous process.

When the electron affinity of the scavenger is small, a favorable configuration of solvent molecules about the electron/scavenger encounter pair is required for the electron jump to take place.

It is the thermally induced reorganization of the surroundings, the solvent (outer sphere) and the solvent sheath or the ligands (inner sphere) which create the geometrically favourable situation prior to and independent of the electron jump.

If the electron jumps, the transfer is much faster than the movement of the large solvent molecules, with the consequence that the nuclear positions of the reaction partners and the solvent molecules are the same before and after the electron jump (Franck-Condon principle).