CHEM101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Atomic Orbital, Atomic Nucleus, Wave Function

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Chemistry
• Course: CHEM101
• Professor: Yoram Apelblat

Document Summary

Quantum numbers and shapes of atomic orbitals. Quantum theory: energy and matter are both particulate, massive and wavelike (wave-particle duality) Heisenberg"s uncertainty principle states that it is not possible to know both the position and momentum of a moving particle at the same time. The more accurately we know the speed, the less accurately we know the position, and vice versa. Problem: an electron moving near an atomic nucleus has a speed. We do(cid:374)"t k(cid:374)ow exactly where electrons are located, but we can specify the probability of finding the electron somewhere in space. We can describe the electron by a wavefunction, or an atomic orbital (a mathematical description of the electron in 3d) des(cid:272)ri(cid:271)es how the ele(cid:272)tro(cid:374)"s (cid:373)atter-wave. The schr dinger equation: changes around the nucleus; solutions provide energy levels of the atom. = wavefunction contains all info about electrons in an atom/molecule. = hamiltonian operator (or energy operator): operator acts on a function and modifies it, e. g. d/dx.