- Back
to the spherical harmonics.
- Ahead to the radial distribution function.
- Back to the Index.
- Copyright 1999, 2000 John S. Winn. All rights reserved. Last updated September 8, 2000.
- Ahead to the radial distribution function.
Chemists generally use linear combinations - hybrids - of the
spherical harmonic functions to describe atomic orbital angular
shapes and orientations. These hybrids are purely real functions
and thus easier to visualize than the spherical harmonics themselves.
You have seen some or all of these shapes before in nearly every
chemistry course you have taken, and they should be familiar to
you. Concentrate here on their shapes, orientations, and nodal
properties as you change the quantum numbers l and m. And remember:
l = 0 is called s, l = 1 is p, l = 2 is d,
l = 3 is f, etc.
These graphs plot the chemist's hydrogen atom angular functions
introduced on page 434 and in Table 12.5 on page 435. The graphs
are spherical polar plots, and you can change the values for l
and m as you wish. For high l values, the preset resolution will
not be great enough for a super-smooth display, but the symmetry
will be clear. Remember that m must be less than or equal to l
and only positive m matters.
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