Hydrogen Orbitals

n

l

m

p

Equiprobability surfaces for hydrogen orbitals correspond to the wavefunctions

ψ

n,l,m

(r)

. Here

n

is the principal quantum number,

l

is the total angular momentum quantum number, and

m

is the magnetic quantum number. Hydrogen orbitals are covered in a first-year quantum mechanics course. The pictures presented are typically ambiguous in what they display. The proper way is to show equiprobability surfaces.

Details

n

— principal quantum number

l

— total angular momentum quantum number

m

— projected angular momentum quantum number

p

— fraction of the maximal probability density

External Links

Hydrogen Atom (ScienceWorld)

Permanent Citation

Michael Trott

"Hydrogen Orbitals"
http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/HydrogenOrbitals/
Wolfram Demonstrations Project
Published: September 28, 2007