Atoms and Molecules
What do atoms and molecules look like when you treat their electrons as waves? Four interactive chapters, from a single electron via the heavy atom gold to the benzene ring.
Atoms and molecules are the building blocks of matter. Whether a substance is solid or liquid, what colour it has or how it reacts depends on how their electrons are distributed in space. These distributions are called orbitals.
The four chapters build on one another. You begin with the simplest atom, hydrogen, whose orbitals can be calculated exactly, and learn the notation 1s, 2p, 3d along the way. Gold follows, a heavy atom that shows how relativity shapes the colour and properties of an element. Then you see why the water molecule is bent and what role lone pairs play. Finally you meet the electrons in the benzene ring, which spread over six atoms.
No prior knowledge is needed. The explanations under each view guide you step by step, and the text offers questions to think about.
Chapters
- Chapter 1
The Hydrogen Atom
Interactive 3D view of every hydrogen atom orbital from 1s to 7i: shape, nodes, energy, and the time-dependent superposition of two states.
- Chapter 2
Gold: Why It Is Yellow
Gold orbitals in 3D with and without relativity: why gold is yellow, hardly rusts, and what relativity does to 6s and 5d.
- Chapter 3
Water H₂O: Geometry of the Molecule
Why water is bent: interactive molecular orbitals, bonds, lone pairs and a Walsh diagram of H₂O with an adjustable bond angle.
- Chapter 4
Benzene: Electrons in a Ring
The six π orbitals of benzene in interactive 3D: delocalization, nodal planes, aromaticity and why the Kekulé picture is only an approximation.