6/23/13 Hydrogen Atom Wave Functions, and Probability Densities

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The Hydrogen Atom:
Wave Functions,
Probability Density "pictures"
Table 1: Wave functions and their components
n m
1 0 0
2 0 0
2 1 0
2 1
3 0 0
3 1 0
3 1
3 2 0
3 2
3 2
Figure 1: The coordinate system used to define
the above variables.
Figure 2: Graphs of the radial wave functions for the first three principal quantum numbers of hydrogen.
6/23/13 Hydrogen Atom Wave Functions, and Probability Densities
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Figure 3: Probability distributions (per unit volume). A slice through the phi = 0 plane.
6/23/13 Hydrogen Atom Wave Functions, and Probability Densities
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Figure 4: The radial probability function r
2
R
2
which gives the relative probability of
finding the electron at a given distance r/a
0
.
6/23/13 Hydrogen Atom Wave Functions, and Probability Densities
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Figure 5: The energy ladder for hydrogen corresponding to its eigenstates.