Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In quantum mechanics, an atomic orbital (/ ˈɔːrbɪtəl /) is a function describing the location and wave-like behavior of an electron in an atom. [1] This function describes an electron's charge distribution around the atom's nucleus, and can be used to calculate the probability of finding an electron in a specific region around the nucleus.
t. e. A quantum mechanical system or particle that is bound —that is, confined spatially—can only take on certain discrete values of energy, called energy levels. This contrasts with classical particles, which can have any amount of energy. The term is commonly used for the energy levels of the electrons in atoms, ions, or molecules, which ...
In a simplistic one-electron model described below, the total energy of an electron is a negative inverse quadratic function of the principal quantum number n, leading to degenerate energy levels for each n > 1. [1] In more complex systems—those having forces other than the nucleus–electron Coulomb force—these levels split.
The Paschen–Back effect is the splitting of atomic energy levels in the presence of a strong magnetic field. This occurs when an external magnetic field is sufficiently strong to disrupt the coupling between orbital and spin angular momenta. This effect is the strong-field limit of the Zeeman effect.
In quantum physics, energy level splitting or a split in an energy level of a quantum system occurs when a perturbation changes the system. The perturbation changes the corresponding Hamiltonian and the outcome is change in eigenvalues; several distinct energy levels emerge in place of the former degenerate (multi- state) level.
In atomic physics, hyperfine structure is defined by small shifts in otherwise degenerate electronic energy levels and the resulting splittings in those electronic energy levels of atoms, molecules, and ions, due to electromagnetic multipole interaction between the nucleus and electron clouds. In atoms, hyperfine structure arises from the ...
The term "azimuthal quantum number" was introduced by Arnold Sommerfeld in 1915 [1]: II:132 as part of an ad hoc description of the energy structure of atomic spectra. Only later with the quantum model of the atom was it understood that this number, ℓ, arises from quantization of orbital angular momentum. Some textbooks [2]: 199 and the ISO ...
Electron configuration. In atomic physics and quantum chemistry, the electron configuration is the distribution of electrons of an atom or molecule (or other physical structure) in atomic or molecular orbitals. [1] For example, the electron configuration of the neon atom is 1s2 2s2 2p6, meaning that the 1s, 2s, and 2p subshells are occupied by ...