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Topic: Hydrogen Orbitals  (Read 1240 times)

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Offline tleche

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Hydrogen Orbitals
« on: February 08, 2016, 06:13:05 PM »
Does Hydrogen have individual 1s, 2s, 2p, etc orbitals (like all other elements), or only energy levels like the Bohr model shows us (n=1, n=2, etc).

I know the Bohr model is not credible for atoms with more than one electron, but don't know if following such model for Hydrogen means the concept of individual s and p orbitals does not apply as well.

Thanks!

Offline Enthalpy

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Re: Hydrogen Orbitals
« Reply #1 on: February 08, 2016, 07:28:12 PM »
The Bohr model had some usefulness in reproducing some observations, but it makes unjustified hypotheses that aren't linked with the rest of physics and is knowingly wrong. QM supersedes it by treating the atom as any other item and makes good predictions. In case the Bohr model is taught where you study, forget it after the exam.

Yes, the hydrogen atom has 1s, 2s, 2p, etc orbitals. In fact, these can be computed by hand only for one single electron in an atom. All other cases are numerical approximations.

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