CHEM 14A Chapter Notes - Chapter 1D.2: Atomic Orbital, Spherical Coordinate System, Bohr Radius
25 Oct 2020
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Atomic orbitals: the wavefunctions of electrons in atoms. Suggest something less definite than an orbit of an electron around a nucleus and to take into account the wave nature of the electron. An atom is like a little sphere, so it is most convenient to describe these locations in terms of spherical polar coordinates, in which each point is labeled with three coordinates r, theta, and phi. Theta: the angle from the positive z-axis (the north pole ) which can be thought of as playing the role of the geographical latitude . Phi: the angle about the z-axis, the geographical longitude . The function r(r) is called the radial wavefunction. Expresses how the wavefunction varies on moving away from the nucleus. Expresses how the wavefunction varies as the angles theta and phi change. The wave function corresponding to the ground state of the hydrogen atom (n = 1) is.
