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### Is there experimental verification of the s, p, d, f orbital shapes?

Have there been any experiments performed (or proposed) to prove that the shapes of the s,p,d,f orbitals correspond to our spatial reality as opposed to just being a figment of the mathematics that ...
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### What does an orbital mean in atoms with multiple electrons? What do the orbitals of helium look like?

I am wondering about this. It is a familiar sight, the orbital diagrams for the hydrogen atom, depictions of which are abundant and so are not in need of reproduction here. However, what about the "...
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### How to understand the symmetry $\Sigma^-$ in the wavefunction of a diatomic molecule?

In Wikipedia (and elsewhere), a particular symmetry of the quantum system of a diatomic molecule is mentioned: symmetry under reflection along a plane containing the internuclear axis. The ...
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### Would an $H_2O$ Molecule actually look like this 3D representation if we could see it?

I'm trying to get a much better grasp on atoms and molecules and I am a visual learner. I found the above image here. This intuitively makes sense to me because I can see how the electron orbitals ...
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### Why are electron wavefunctions standing waves?

How can I convince myself that wavefunctions of electrons on molecular orbitals are indeed standing waves? Is it a consequence of the fact that electrons don't drift away from the molecule? In other ...
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### LCAO - Constructing a molecular wavefunction

I am a theoretical physics student and have been studying the LCAO (Linear Combination of Atomic Orbitals) technique from the perspective of a physicist. I would like to get some explicit ...
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### Quantization of electrons' angular momentum in atoms and molecules

It is known that the Schrödinger's equation of the electron's wave function in atoms can be solved analitically only when a single electron is present (the "hydrogenlike atom"). In that case, the ...
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### Why are there three $p$-orbitals?

This question is specifically about Schrödinger quantum mechanics, but if an answer in some other mode would illuminate it could be acceptable, as demonstrating a physical or mathematical reason for ...