Readings Spears and Zollman, Chapter 14, Pages 321-326
In the previous module we set up a potential energy diagram to represent a simplistic atom. We then sketched wave functions for electrons interacting with this potential. From this exercise we discovered that the electrons are "bound" to the atom and only specific energies will give the correct wave functions (wave functions that are smooth at both boundaries). If this seems like a distant memory you may like to quickly review the on-line tutorial "Wave Functions for Electrons in Atoms".
Up until now we have simplified the approach to wave functions by only solving Schrödinger's Equation in one dimension. Wave functions do in fact have three spatial dimensions and change with time. We looked at time varying wave functions with the program Quantum Motion.
In this tutorial we will examine the consequences of a three-dimensional wave function in bound states and look at how they relate to orbitals in atoms.