Orbital Definition and 790 Threads

... why are there more nodes/zeros? If l = 0 then the angular momentum contribution to the effective potential is zero, and there is the coublomb potential only. So shouldn't it always go as ~ -k/r^2 (k = constant) like the n=1 s orbital? Why is it that for n = 2 is there 1 zero, n= 3 there...

why orbital velocity of a satellite is independent of mass?

Good afternoon, I wonder if someone can help me in a small doubt. I'm trying to calculate the orbital parameters of some solar system bodies. It's quite easy knowing their positions and velocities. But my question is this: these two components, position and velocity, must they be heliocentric...

Is there some mathematical derivation for calculating the orbital velocity based on altitude and acceleration without using calculus? I thought of equations of motion, but I always get problems. Is there a way to derive it using laws of gravitational potential and kinetic energy ? Are the...

Lets try this again. Hello, my name is Fritz Conklin. I recently started a company, Clear Space Technologies. We intend to recycle and repurpose debris instead of the standard solution of "lets destroy it". This poses several hurdles, but nothing we can't overcome. Our mission is to defray the...

Homework Statement The momentum carried by an electromagnetic field is [;\vec{P}(\vec{x}, t) = \frac{1}{4\pi c} \int d\vec{x}\vec{E}(\vec{x},t) \times \vec{B}(\vec{x},t);] show that for a finite field extension [;\vec{J}(\vec{x}, t) = \frac{1}{4\pi c}\int -i...

Is there any energy difference b/w two electrons of the same orbital having anti parallel spin?

I was reading a post by spongebob_79 about using counter-rotating rings to generate power and I had a thought. What is the general opinion of using counter-rotating rings mounted to 2 facing sides of a structure and simpily inducing opposite spins on the structures to generate power? Obviously...

Hi, The force of gravity is the centripetal force when an object is in motion. But in projectile motion, where the speed is not enough to keep it in orbit, could the force of gravity be equated to centripetal force? I'm trying to understand if all types of curved motion can be explained by...

I've been tutoring for chemistry and someone asked me to clarify the difference of spin angular momentum and orbital angular momentum without math. I was trying to think of a metaphor, but I wanted to make sure it's a fair one--the spin angular momentum is like Earth rotating on its own axis...

I've been really into electrons and their orbitals for a few months now, but I've never understood how they come up with all of these 3d models from these complicated equations. I would love it if someone could explain in detail the equations and the values of the variables and constants within...

Does the orbital of an electron change when it experiences a spin-orbit interaction, and if so, how?

I have poor concepts in Orbitals, wavefunctions etc. What i know is that quantum mechanics(study of sub atomic particles) talks about probability. What i understand is wavefunction means probability of finding an electron in space around a nucleus, correct me i am wrong.So when we say that this...

In an atom of something like oxygen with a completed 2p orbital, do the paired electrons within the orbital behave differently than the same 2p orbital that is uncompleted? Bear with me and try to understand this question as I am a little fuzzy on the subject and I don't know how else to ask...

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 all, I'm curently meeting the following problem and can't figure it out by myself. Assume we have to vehicles in space, a target and a chaser spacecraft . The target spacecraft defines the RTN frame of reference. Given the position and velocity of the chaser in RTN-coordinates, how can I...

Hello, I am currently writing a novel and there are quite a few situations that I would like to create that involve orbital dynamics. I would like to be as realistic as possible. I am seeking a knowledgeable person that can ballpark these problems. I do not think that it would take to much of...

The definition of orbital angular momentum, whether for classical mechanics or for quantum mechanical operators, is rxp. Technically, according to this definition, one particle can possesses orbital angular momentum - in this case about the origin. But I cannot think of any examples, in...

Homework Statement Hey, so basically I'm doing Advanced Higher Computing Science at school (It's a Scottish qualification), and I need to build an orbital simulator in VB.Net 2008 (nothing too fancy), but I'm having issues planning it all out. I'm only going to have one planet orbiting a star...

Assuming the 2s and 2p wavefunctions are normalized, determine the coefficients in the hybrid orbital: Ψ(sp3) = aΨ(2s) + aΨ(2px) + aΨ(2py) + aΨ(2pz) (the other 3 hybrids have – signs for some of the coefficients. [SIZE=16px]I have no clue where to start. I know this is a tetrahedral hybrid...

The Earth is moving around the Sun at around 30km/s, a change of 60km/s over the course of the year. Presumably, measurements of the speed of light would show a redshift up to ±30km/s? Are redshift measurements this accurate? Likewise, the speed of the Solar System around the Milky Way, is...

Hello, After searching on the internet, I have come to the conclusion that there is no completely general way to calculate the position of an orbiting body. My question is whether there is a way to find the equations of motion with respect to time of a satellite orbit given only the initial...

Hi, everybody. Mi name is Fabio Onier Osorio Pelaez and I'm from Colombia. I hope to be finishing my Bachelor´s degree in Physics at University of Antioquia by next August. I'm doing my final project on the detection of planets by the Radial Velocity technique and I have a question about an...

Hey! So I'm a little fuzzy on my understanding of MO theory. One question I had on my study guide said that according to MO theory, overlap of two s atomic orbitals produces _________. I know the answer is one bonding molecular orbitals and one antibonding molecular orbital. Why is this? Also I...

Homework Statement Consider a satellite in circular low Mars orbit 300km above the planetary surface. R = 3396km M = 6.419 x 1023kg G = 6.674 x 10-11m3/kg/s2 Find the orbital velocity of the satellite (using the given values, I assume, as there is some inaccuracy in the real-life mass value...

Hi. I have recently been trying my hands at calculating a few orbits but have encountered difficulties in trying to 'understand' the semi latus rectum. P=h^2/GM What does it have to do with the orbiting object's angular momentum? How come I get different values when I derive it from other...

I have a question concerning the eccentricity vs orbital period of observed exoplanets. Going to this link let's you plot different exoplanet properties on each axis of a graph. Plugging in Orbital Period for the X-axis and Eccentricity for the Y-axis shows that a trend towards decreasing...

Homework Statement A geostationary satellite is to be placed to view the far side of the moon. How far away should it be placed from the center of the Earth and what velocity should it travel in order to maintain its orbit? (Considering the moon and Earth as one entity and solve for the center...

So a particle has intrinsic parity ##\pm 1 ## . The parity of a system of particles is given by product of intrinsic parities and the result is: ##(-1)^l ## (1). Questions: 1) How does this result follow? and what exactly is ##l## here? so it's the orbital angular momentum, so say a particle...

In the far future(10^85 years) an “element” called positronium will develop with a diameter of the current observable universe of 93 billion light years. (Remember that light travels at 3 × 10^8 m/s). This element consists of an electron and a positron, both of which have a mass 9.11 × 10^−31...

For diamagnetic materials, when an external magnetic field is applied, the electrons having orbital magnetic moment in opposite directions spped up. how does this happen? The direction of magnetic momwnt is given by right hand thum rule. If there is an electron revolving in anticlockwise...

Hey, so I have a question about motions of planets and their energy basically. When we have a circular orbit, why is it that the kinetic energy is just the opposite of potential energy? (Assuming it's a closed orbit) Like if we have U = something, than the kinetic energy T = -1/2U? This would...

Homework Statement Consider three electrons in three different orbital levels n, m and p. We assume that there is one electron in each orbital level. How many states are then possible? Homework Equations Equations for constructing symmetric and asymmetric wavefunctions: Symmetric under pair...

Plzz explain me molecular orbital& relation beetween atomic

Hi there, I was reading one of my textbooks and I had a thought. For a black hole, there is minimum orbiting radius of ##R_{min}=3R_s## where ##R_s## is the Schwarzschild Radius. This minimum orbit is created by the fact that in order to obtain an orbit of that radius around a black hole, you...

I'd like to ask a couple of questions. As a solid object gets bigger, the molecular orbital (combinations of all single atom orbitals) has greater size too? For a one inch square object (of closely packed molecules like crystals), what is its molecular orbital size compared to a one foot square...

Assuming all orbitals are filled, which of these orbitals is most shielded: 1s, 3s, 4d, 5s The answer is 4d, but I chose 5s. Can someone explain? I thought the electrons in the d block are considered core electrons and contribute to the shielding, but feel more pull from the nucleus because of...

In d orbital there are 5 degenerates. How ## d_z^2 ## represents something like a donut shape. Shouldn't it be a parabola with respect to z axis, like when plotting graph of ## x^2 ##. Also have confusion about shapes of other 4 degenerates. For s it is spherical and simple. For p there are 3...

I am wondering how two orbitals of same n values can be orthogonal, for example how are a 2s and 3s orbital orthogonal? What I understand is a property of orthogonality is the product of the two wave functions integrate to zero over all space. I tried to look at this graphically and categorize...

How do I sketch the radial distribution of a $3d_{x^2-y^2}$ orbital? :D

When we first learn of selection rules for atomic transitions, we learn that electrons have to change between states that differ in angular momentum by at most 1ħ, because photons have 1 unit of spin angular momentum. However, photons can have arbitrarily high integer quantities of orbital...

I read this article, and I'm confused about several things. http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/magazine/physicstoday/article/57/5/10.1063/1.1768672 Apparently, light can have orbital angular momentum as well as spin. But I don't see how this is possible, at least in vacuum. Is this in vacuum...

Just a quick question on photon orbital angular momentum. In the equation for photon energy: E2 = p2c2 + m2c4 Is OAM counted in the p2c2 part? Or does the above equation only apply to photons with normal momentum and there is another term for the angular momentum? The normal relation for p...

So, I'm working on my semester finals for my high school physics class, and I've run across a problem that has me stumped. I've included the pertinent material below. Homework Statement A rocket with a mass of 2kg and traveling at 14,008.34 meters/second loses 10% of its velocity as finishes...

I am wondering and have been thinking, exactly how does the energies of hydrogen atom orbital depend on quantum numbers? I am just curious because all of what I have learned/read discusses only one-dimensional situaiton, like a particle in a box, and I want to know how it can be applied to the...

Hi pf, please could someone explain why the orbital velocity increases as you get closer to the sun. I treated the situation like circular motion and did a load of calculations. I calculated the orbital velocity of all 8 planets and then the force between each of the eight planets and the sun. I...

Hello all. The title of this thread sums up my question - what is the difference between orbital mechanics and astrodynamics ? Or is there a difference at all ? I have sometimes seen different uses of the terms, for example, on many sites I see " astrodynamics or orbital mechanics is ... " ...

Homework Statement We have the initial orbital angular momentum state in the x basis as |l,ml>x=|1,1>x. We are asked to find the column vector in the z-basis that represents the initial orbital angular momentum of the above state. It then says "hint: use an eigenvalue equation". Homework...

Suppose I have particle in three dimensional space whose position space wavefunction in spherical coordinates is ##\psi(r,\theta,\phi)##. The spherical harmonics ##Y_{\ell,m}## are a complete set of functions on the 2-sphere and so any function ##f(\theta,\phi)## can be expanded as...

Hello. I have a project in school in which I will be attempting to gain an increased understanding of orbital dynamics and the maths related to it and using this information to create a n-body simulation. I have a like 3-4 months to finish it and I'm currently in high school so I am only...