Final answer:
Tabs on file folders serve to quickly identify and access contents, while their varied positions allow for visibility in storage. They liken to a computer directory showing file sizes, analogous to electron configurations in chemistry.
Step-by-step explanation:
The purpose of the tabs on file folders is to help you easily identify and access the contents of the folder without having to pull it out. These tabs can be labeled with titles, dates, or other relevant information to categorize and locate documents quickly.
The reason why tabs are positioned in different places on the folders is to allow for a visual spread when they are placed in a file cabinet or box, thus enabling you to see the labels at a glance without them being obscured by one another.
Comparing to a computer directory, a physical file folder doesn't directly tell you how much content it holds. Similarly, to understand how big a file is, you might need to physically examine it by either weighing or counting its contents. In contrast, a computer can tell you the size of the file immediately.
This is analogous to using an orbital filling diagram in chemistry, where you count arrows, versus the electron configuration data where you add up numbers to know the size or content of an atom's electron structure.