

What must the value of /be for each of these orbitals. All nine n = 3 orbitals have tbe same energy. For example, all four n = 2 orbitals have the same energy. įor the hydrogen atom, orbital energy depends only on the value of n. It is noted that Y is defined only in terms of a central field and not for atoms in molecules. The solutions of the angular dependent part are the spherical harmonics, Y, known to most chemists as the mathematical expressions describing shapes of (hydrogenic) atomic orbitals. Figure 16-10 shows the spatial arrangement implied by assuming persistence of the hydrogen atom orbitals after bonding. In NH and NFS, three p orbitals are involved in the bonding. Furthermore, it will be necessary to find an explanation for the occurrence of eight-electron differences both at neon and at argon and eighteen-electron differences both at krypton and at xenon. It was necessary to multiply n2 by two-an important factor that could not have been anticipated. The hydrogen atom orbitals give us the numbers 2, 8, 18, and 32-the numbers we find separating the specially stable electron populations of the inert gases. Solution of the electronic Schrddinger problem gives the well-known hydrogenic atomic orbitals. The electronic Hamiltonian commutes with both the square of the angular momentum operator r and its z-component and so the three operators have simultaneous eigenfunctions. Results are not sensitive to these nodes and most simple calculations use Slater atomic orbitals of the form. So called Hydrogenic atomic orbitals ( exact solutions for the hydrogen atom) have radial nodes (values of the distance r where the orbital s value goes to zero) that make them somewhat inconvenient for computation. Although Slater-type orbitals (STOs) are preferred on fundamental grounds (e.g., as demonstrated in Appendices A and B, the hydrogen atom orbitals are of this form and the exact solution of the many- electron Schrodinger equation can be shown to be of this form (in each of its coordinates) near the nuclear centers), STOs are used primarily for atomic and linear-molecule calculations because the multi-center integrals (each. įor both types of orbitals, the coordinates r, 0, and (j) refer to the position of the electron relative to a set of axes attached to the center on which the basis orbital is located. Suggested Extra Reading- Appendix B The Hydrogen Atom Orbitals]. The associated Schrodinger equation for the H atom can then be written as This operator contains terms to represent the electronic kinetic energy ( e) and potential energy of attraction to the nucleus (vne), Quantum numbers and shapes of atomic orbitals Let us denote the one- electron hydrogenic Hamiltonian operator by h, to distinguish it from the many-electron H used elsewhere in this book. Bohr s orbits and the associated particulate picture of the electron can serve as a temporary conceptual crutch, but they are ultimately impediments to proper wave-mechanical visualization of chemical phenomena. This change from a countable to a continuous picture of electron distribution is one of the most paradoxical (but necessary) conceptual steps to take in visualizing chemical phenomena in orbital terms. However, chemical experiments generally do not probe the system in this manner, so it is preferable to picture p(r) as a continuous distribution of fractional electric charge. The density p(r) might also be described as the fractional probability of finding the (entire) electron at point r. The essence of Schrodinger s treatment was to replace the classical orbit of Bohr s semi-classical (particle) model of the H-atom by a corresponding wavelike orbital ( single-electron wavefunction) L. Hence, these hydrogenic solutions strongly guide the search for accurate solutions of many-electron systems. To this day the H atom is the only atomic or molecular species for which exact solutions of Schrodinger s equation are known. (1.1) for the one- electron hydrogen atom. In his first communication23 on the new wave mechanics, Schrodinger presented and solved his famous Eq.
