Averge orbital distance of electrons

  • Level: Undergrad 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Iceking20
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Electrons Orbital
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
4 replies · 2K views
Iceking20
Messages
15
Reaction score
1
TL;DR
Is there anyway to calculate average distance of electrons?
Summary: Is there anyway to calculate average distance of electrons?

I know that we use wave function for orbital to show the probability of finding but my question is there any way to calculate distance between orbitals or energy states?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
One can certainly calculate the expectation value for r2-r1
 
hutchphd said:
One can certainly calculate the expectation value for r2-r1
I suggest calculating ##(\vec r_2 - \vec r_1)^2## to make the result more interesting.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: HomogenousCow
Yes I should have explicitly said all powers thereof to get moments of the distribution...thank you.
 
I think the point mfb was making is that <r1 - r2> is zero by symmetry.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: mfb