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Orbital Graphing by Mark Ellison, Wittenberg University, Department of Chemistry, P.O. Box 720, Springfield, OH 45501;
[email protected] File names: OrbitalGraphing2001i.mcd, OrbitalGraphing2001i.pdf, OrbitalGraphingStudentVS2001i.mcd, OrbitalGraphingStudentVS2001i.pdf Keywords: Physical Chemistry, Atomic Properties/Structure, Computer-based Learning, Quantum Chemistry Requires: Mathcad 2001i and higher
The goal of this document is to help students become familiar with preparing and viewing three-dimensional graphs of the angular parts of hydrogen-like atomic orbitals. The students plot the angular part of an s (l = 0, m = 0) orbital and a pz (l = 1, m = 0) orbital. However, the atomic orbitals p1 (l = 1, m = 1) and p᎑1 (l = 1, m = ᎑1) are graphed but look
158
Journal of Chemical Education
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nothing like the familiar shape of a p orbital. Linear combinations of these orbitals are graphed, and the combinations result in the familiar px and py orbitals. The process is repeated for some of the d orbitals. In the second part of the document, the students use linear combinations of s and p orbitals to construct hybrid sp, sp2, and sp3 orbitals.
Vol. 81 No. 1 January 2004
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