8.

Ground state of Hydrogen Z = 1, = H

radial wavefunction R10

Plot Laguerre[0,1,2*x] * x**0 * Exp[-x] x=0 to 10
probability density |R10 |2 r 2
Plot (Laguerre[0,1,2*x] * x**0 * Exp[-x])**2 * x**2 x=0 to 10

2
we have R10 = a3/2
er/a and Y00 = 1/ 4 so
100 = R10 Y00 =

1 r/a
e
= R10 Y00
a3

lets calculate some expectation values. we can

< r >=
standard integral

Z Z Z
R

2
(100
rr 2 sin drdd

1
= 4 3
a

xp eax dx = p!/ap+1
< r >=

r 3 e2r/a dr

4 3!
= 3a/2
a3 (2/a)4

the classically allowed region is only where E > V i.e. V = e2 /(40 r) and
E1 (as the source is in the ground state) is
E1 =

m  e2 2
2
h2 40

We can simplify this as a = 40 h

2 /me2 so V =
h2 /(mar) and E1 =

h2 /(2ma2 ) so for E > V we have

h
2
h
2
>

2ma2
mar
1
1
<
2a
r
1

so classically we have r < 2a. But this is a wavefunction so there is some

probability we find the electron beyond r = 2a which is
1
a3

Z Z Z

1
r sin drdd = 3 4
a

2r/a 2

r 2 e2r/a dr = 0.24

2a

where we just do the integral numerically!

But we could have saved ourseves work on < r > by using the fact that the
Ylm are already normalised over integrals so
< f (r) >=

Z Z Z

Rnl
Ylm
f (r)Rnl Ylm r 2

sin dd =

Rnl
(f (r)Rnl )r 2 dr

So lets find < V > the simple way

< V >=<
=

e2 4
40 a3

e2
e2
>=
40 r
40

1
R10
r R10 r 2

e2r/a rdr

e2 4 1!
e2

h2
=
=
=
40 a3 (2/a)2
40 a
a2

8.3

Expectation values from more complex orbitals

210 = R21 Y10 , where R21 =

r r/2a
1
e
24a3 a

and Y10 =

3
4

1/2

cos

find the probability that the electron is in the arctic circle - i.e. within the
range = 0 23.5 .
prob=

R 23.5 R 2 R
0

2
R21
Y102 r 2 sin drdd

23.5

2
0

Y102 sin dd
2

3  23.5
cos2 sin d
= 2
4 0
3
= 0.0762 = 0.11
2
Z

compare to classical - we would have uniform probability with angle. so we

will just integrate our angle surface element for our angle raneg. But this
needs to be normalised so we divide by the integral over the total angle range.
R 23.5 R 2

= 0R R 20
0

sin dd
sin dd

20.0829399
= 0.041
22

and we can see this by looking at the shape of the 3D orbitals....

8.4

Energy levels

Put hydrogen in some stationary state nlm . it should stay there forever. But
perturb it slightly - maybe a collision with another atom/electron/photon
then the electron may undergo a transition to another stationary state either by absorbing energy or emitting it. such perturbationas are always
present, so such tranistions - quantum jumps - are constantly occuring. But
since these transitions occur between levels of fixed energy, then the emitted
photon depends on the difference in energy between the initial and final states
E = Ei Ef = 13.6

8.5

1
1

n2i
n2f

Hydrogen isoelectronic sequence

any ion with atomic number Z which is ionised so that there is only 1
electron left should be described by the same equations, but with V (r) =
Ze2 /(40 r).
3

This affects both atom size and energy as a = 40 h

2 /(mZe2 ) so this scales

2
as a = aH (H /)(1/Z) while En (Z, ) = H Z E1H /n2
so then we can treat ionised helium, which has more or less same mass
He H me
a 1st energy level of -13.6.4 = -54.4 eV. and should have all size scales which
are 2x smaller than Hydrogen.
similarly, we could have different reduced mass Z e.g. for positronium where
the proton is replaced by a positron so the reduced mass = MA MB /(MA +
MB ) = me /2 then a = aH / so the size scale is 2x larger, and E so the
energy is 2x smaller.
and the wavefunctions are just derived with the size scale a.
e.g.
100 = (a3 )1/2 er/a
where a = aH (H /)(1/Z) so for a Hydrogen-like ion with change Z and
reduced mass = H ) (r) = ((a3H /Z 3 )1/2 erZ/aH so
< r >=
=

Z Z Z

Z3
rr sin dd = 3 4
aH
2

r 3 e2Zr/aH dr

4Z 3
3!
4Z 3
3!
3aH
=
=
=< r >H /Z
3
3
4
4
aH (2Z/aH )
aH (2/aH )
2Z

so as expected, all the typical sizes scale with 1/Z

8.6

Comparison in detail with Hydrogen

The balmer line is actually 2 lines, yet our schroedinger solution did not
give us this! so maybe its that hydrogen is not just proton-electron, there
is some admixture of deuterium. so d = 2mp me /(2mp + me ) while H =
2mp me /(2mp + me ) so the energies will be slightly different En = H EnH =
(2mp me )/(2mp + me )EnH = 1.0003EnH but this is a BIGGER shift than is
observed,.
4

so where do the small line shifts come from???

To understand Hydrogen at this level of detail we have to do a lot more work
- and in particular, we need to do more work on angular momentum, and
especially spin angular momentum. And since we are going to be looking for
TINY effects, we are going to treat these as a small perturbation so rather
than solve things exactly, we are going to do perturbation theory to get
approximate answers.