
Orbits and orbitals (2006) - joegreen
http://www.chemguide.co.uk/atoms/properties/orbitsorbitals.html
======
jgamman
One useful way to think of each year of chem/science study is to assume _it's
the last year this student will take the subject_. From that perspective, the
student will spend the rest of their life with _this_ mental model.

When viewed like this a mental model of a nucleus with electrons 'orbiting'
around it is entirely valid and literally drops the student in the early 20th
century.

One of the problems with experts is that they try building a straight line
from zero to expert that never needs a backtrack step.

Personally I like the opportunity for students to learn about the experimental
evidence that _forces them_ to need a better theory than the one they've come
in with. Cognitive dissonance is one of the most powerful forces students have
for learning - a good teacher should be engineering these moments as part of
their lesson design.

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blackholesRhot
These concepts make more sense after one has been exposed to quantum
mechanics. One of the first things you do in an intro to quantum mechanics
class is calculate the energy levels of a Hydrogen atom (and then Helium.)
Chemistry is literally applied quantum mechanics; and everything in quantum
mechanics is probabilistic. A more accurate picture of an orbital is that it’s
an energy level where a cloud of probability mass lives that corresponds to,
if one were to take a photograph of the atom, the likelihood of finding an
electron in any given location (wave function collapse.) But before a
measurement, the electron really was a cloud of probability mass.

~~~
mhh__
Chemguide is aimed at A-level students, e.g. 17 year olds: Doing the math is
out of the question, sadly.

~~~
acqq
But even before 17 I‘ve learnt with the orbitals diagrams like here:

[https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Physical_and_Theoret...](https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry_Textbook_Maps/Supplemental_Modules_\(Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry\)/Quantum_Mechanics/09._The_Hydrogen_Atom/Atomic_Theory/Electrons_in_Atoms/Electronic_Orbitals)

Which I still find more informative than the drawings on the original post
page.

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michaelsbradley
How might one conceive of orbitals with respect to the De Broglie–Bohm
theory[+]?

[+]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Broglie%E2%80%93Bohm_theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Broglie%E2%80%93Bohm_theory)

~~~
michaelsbradley
Found this, _The Hydrogen atom in Bohmian Quantum Theory_ [+]

    
    
      If the Bohmian interpretation of quantum mechanics is considered in
      the case of the hydrogen atom, it leads to a prediction that "normal"
      quantum mechanics does not make. That is the existence of a distance of
      closest approach of the electron to the proton. This distance of two
      hundred fermi is of the order of the Planck length, a region where the
      "normal" laws of physics are thought to break down. If the probability
      density of finding an electron inside this region could be experimentally
      measured, that would thus be a definite test to differentiate between the
      two interpretations of quantum mechanics.
    

[+]
[https://www.academia.edu/483415/The_Hydrogen_atom_in_Bohmian...](https://www.academia.edu/483415/The_Hydrogen_atom_in_Bohmian_Quantum_Theory)

