Lecture: Chladni Figures and One-Electron Atoms

Description

Lecture Description

After showing how a double-minimum potential generates one-dimensional bonding, Professor McBride moves on to multi-dimensional wave functions. Solving Schrödinger's three-dimensional differential equation might have been daunting, but it was not, because the necessary formulas had been worked out more than a century earlier in connection with acoustics. Acoustical "Chladni" figures show how nodal patterns relate to frequencies. The analogy is pursued by studying the form of wave functions for "hydrogen-like" one-electron atoms. Removing normalizing constants from the formulas for familiar orbitals reveals the underlying simplicity of their shapes.

Course Description

This is the first semester in a two-semester introductory course focused on current theories of structure and mechanism in organic chemistry, their historical development, and their basis in experimental observation. The course is open to freshmen with excellent preparation in chemistry and physics, and it aims to develop both taste for original science and intellectual skills necessary for creative research.

from course: Organic Chemistry