Electron orbitals Definition and 33 Threads

I‘ve done chemistry in high school, yet I feel I still have no idea how it really works. In physics you can just calculate everything to make predictions. But in chemistry it feels like learning vocabulary, you have to learn each word and you can not just deduce everything from simple rules...

Not sure if this belongs in Chemistry or Physics. Even less sure if I understand the selection rules for electron transition correctly; hence this question. So I would be grateful for someone to please correct the following: Letting n and m be energy levels An electron that absorbs a photon...

Hi, I'm looking for the equations to perform the wave function of the orbitals, that way I can give a graph. The problem I only encounter situations in basic energy transfer (valence).Task: Make wavefunctions of the sp2, sp3, sd3 hybridized orbitals respectively. I need the wavefunction...

So I read that Bohr's atom has discrete energy levels that an Electron can orbit at and that each level has n amount of sublevels (if n = 2 then there are 2 sublevels). Does the sublevel that the Electron is in have to do with it's mass? Does an electron in energy level l and sublevel d have...

1. Do electron orbitals ever change in _shape_? Specifically, does a solid have the same orbital shapes as a liquid? 2. Are there any factors that would change the _size_ of electron orbitals?

The first ionization energy decreases between group 5 and group 6 due to the repulsion between the electrons in the p orbital. Although I understand that the effective nuclear charge increases between group 1 and group 2 elements, why isn't this the case between group 1 and group 2 elements...

I'm having trouble understanding this process. The electron is absorbing the photon and has a changed orbital corresponding exactly to the photons energy. During the absorption the electron "jumps" energy levels, Is this process instantaneous? What are the equations that describe dynamics of...

Do protons' inherent gyroscopic nature produce progressive ripples in the electromagnetic field? If so, then is there an ensemble of transverse electromagnetic undulations arising from the proton's angular momentum that contribute to electronic orbital energy in, say, a hydrogen atom? If these...

I am currently studying C Hammond's "Basics of Crystallography and Diffraction" (third ed.). In the first chapter ,concerning hard sphere model, I have found the following statement: There are, in fact, no examples of elements with this structure because, as the model building shows,the atoms...

So I was wondering... for no particular reason: Say you have a proton and your right arm is a particle accelerator. You throw the proton at about 90% the speed o' light. The you take your left arm which also happens to be a particle accelerator and you shoot an electron out right next to it...

The probability distribution of the position of the electron of a hydrogen atom is related to the following polar plots Suppose the electron is excited from the ##1s## orbital to the ##2p_x## orbital. Does it make sense to talk about the ##2p_x## orbital having a dumbbell shape pointing in...

Do the orbitals of electrons change positions within their energy level relative to the nucleus or are they statically "attached" to the nucleus? To try and put this into perspective, would the orbitals of the electrons be like nailing a balloon(orbital) straight to the ball(nucleus) or nailing...

Hi! I have understood how elements such as Be and Ca, with fully filled 2s orbitals, are not to be considered "noble" because they still have unfilled p orbitals. But I'm having trouble understanding how these elements participate in chemical reactions without having any unpaired electrons. My...

Hello, At first, I wasn't sure why p-orbitals are shaped as they are. I looked through the posts of others here and it makes some sense now. My understanding is that they are dumbbell shaped because electrons repel from each other and are attracted by the nucleus. Then why is an s-orbital...

Are the energy differences between orbitals the same for all of the elements? If not How do you determine the energy differences between orbitals?

I'm not sure if this question even has an answer, but I've been studying the interaction of photons with electrons in atoms and a lot of other things and the underlying thing I don't understand is why electron orbitals exist in specific shapes (probably delves into quantum mechanics). For...

I was reading an article about the electron orbitals of iron and copper: The electronic configuration of iron is 1s 2, 2s 2, 2p 6, 3s 2, 3p 6, 4s 2, 3d 6 And that of copper is 1s 2, 2s 2, 2p 6, 3s 2, 3p 6, 4s 1, 3d 10 Iron has an incompletely filled d orbital while copper has a full...

Hey all, Why do electron orbitals exist? That is to say, why do electrons in essence move away from the proton (potential) instead of attempting to get closer to the proton? Feel free to throw out some quark and nuclear physics...haven't had qed yet. IR

Is there some resource on the net where I can find images of electron orbitals for dihydrogen (H2), helium (He), lithium (Li) and dilithium (Li2)? Alternatively if there is some software that can produce such images, that would be good too.

1. "i.e an electron is removed from one of the single electron orbitals into the vacuum." I know what orbitals are but I don't know what constitutes single-electron orbitals. I first assumed it was simply an orbital which in a given configuration only had one electron but that had to be ruled...

(is this correct … ?) electrons "orbiting" a single atom obey the Schrodinger equation, whose solutions are linear combinations of an orthogonal basis of solutions of the form R(r)Θ(θ)Φ(φ) [SIZE="1"]where r θ and φ are the usual spherical coordinates: θ = 0 is the usual z axis these...

Hey Everyone, If you have an electron with the various energy levels: -14 eV, -30 eV, -52 eV, -80 eV. And that the electron can only move between these levels. How do I go about finding the photo energy that is emitted? Do I just subtract the various levels? Ex. 14 - 30 = -16 etc?

I've haven't taken a chemistry course as of yet, so I'm probably getting something very wrong here, but one thing that someone said confused me. They said that when an electron changes it's orbital, it emits a photon. I like to think about orbitals (and I know that this is ONLY a useful...

It's my understanding that electron orbitals arise from the steady state solution to the Schrodinger equation. In what ways can these be deformed? Some possible solutions might be oscillating or metastable dynamic solutions. Other solutions include varying electron mass (I understand a purist...

I am wondering how is it that the electrons go from one elctron shell to another because I learned that the shells only meet in the nucleus of the element so how is it possible for it to change shells without becoming a nuetralized charge?

What do they have to do with heat? What exactly can cause and electron to become exited and what exactly does the particle it comes in contact with do that causes the electron to become ''exited''? The higher the orbitals and electron spins, the shorter the wavelengths of the radiation it emits...

hi, when an electron stays in the same electronic orbitals with principal quantum number n, with a constant energy and momentum, are there still virtuals photons that are permanently exchanged between this electron and the nucleus? I believe that the electromagnetic field is equivalent...

Hi, I have developed a model that demonstrates the filling of atomic orbitals but need some 'constructive' criticism on its content. How do I go about that? I currently have it in a pdf format. Can anyone help?

If electrons orbit an atom in discrete energy levels like n= 1 , 2, 3 ... and they never orbit in between the ground state and the first excited state . then why should a magnetic field break this rule and push the electron a little bit so when it relaxes back down it emits a longer...

Question on electron orbitals and wavelengths?? Hi I have a couple of dumb laymans questions: (1) I have seen various diagrams of electron shells where some of them appear as ,roughly , rotating figure eights. Is there any physical conceptual interpretation of this? It would...

I'm trying to interpret a research paper on single photon ionization using extreme UV attosecond laser pulses, and I realized I have some very basic questions concerning electrons in an atom. Technically, the answers to these questions are found online and in the literature, but the wording...

Ok, what I need is the following: - program that can draw orbital - it must be free (not to buy) (no copy right, ...) I didn't find one that is free and has a nice graphic.

which force separates the electrons and nucleus and causes the electrons to orbit? a friend told me that the size of the electron means that the nuclei cannot absorb it, but i am still confused and not sure if he knew what i meant in my question.