Final answer:
The Aufbau principle states that electrons fill up orbitals from the lowest to highest energy level, and it is used in conjunction with Hund's rule and the Pauli exclusion principle to determine electron configurations.
Step-by-step explanation:
The principle or rule that states that electrons fill up orbitals from the lowest energy level to the highest energy level is the Aufbau principle. According to the Aufbau principle, electrons are added to atomic orbitals beginning with the lowest energy sublevel (1s) and proceeding to higher energy levels in a specific order. This order can be visualized using electron configuration diagrams or tabels which illustrate the sequence in which sublevels and orbitals are filled.
There are additional rules that help determine how electrons are distributed among orbitals. Hund's rule dictates that electrons will first fill available orbitals singly before pairing up, and the Pauli exclusion principle states that no two electrons can have the same set of four quantum numbers.