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Nodes Notes2

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
32 views9 pages

Nodes Notes2

Uploaded by

estellasr00
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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An alternative way to

consider nodes
CHEM1011, notes from Prof Scott Kable
Different Quantum Numbers
If an electron lived in one dimension, then, as a wave, one quantum number would
be enough to describe it. Recall these videos from Topic 1:
Connection between energy and number of nodes.
The lowest energy waveform has no nodes

On a guitar, when the string is plucked, the minimum


energy (frequency) waveform is the one with no node.

Subsequently higher energy waveforms have nodes.

More nodes mean a shorter wavelength, more


momentum, and more energy.

h
p=
l
Waves in two dimensions
Standing waves can also be generated on a surface or thin membrane. A drumhead has a fixed perimeter,
and oscillations on this surface lead to more complicated patterns of displacement and nodes
First, consider the fundamental mode of the membrane. It is analogous to the fundamental of a vibrating
string, and the diameter of the drum is l/2. The whole drumhead oscillates above and below the plane with
an amplitude defined by the maximum displacement.

These waves can be represented as a contour plot, or simply as


lobes of positive (above the plane) and negative (below the
plane) displacement. The fundamental oscillates between
positive and negative with a frequency, n. The whole drum is
either + or -.

0 nodes
Waves in two dimensions
Like 1-D waves, the higher-order The nodes are lines in the plane
The fundamental.
harmonic oscillations in higher of the circumference of the drum.
dimensions also have nodes (lines
in 2-D) where the drumhead
never moves.

0 nodes
1 radial node 2 radial nodes
Waves in two dimensions
Membranes can also generate asymmetric standing waves of various kinds.

In the simplest kind of harmonic the membrane is In another, it is quartered, giving two linear
halved, making an angular node (the node is at fixed nodes at right angles.
angle).
Waves in two dimensions
As well as increasing the number of radial and
linear nodes, the drum can mix linear and radial
nodes:

Here: 1 angular node

and 1 radial node,

For the musos: this is something like having a scale with just two notes, say “Y”, “Z” (rather than A, B,... G)
You can overtones of Y and Z (“octaves”), and combinations of Y and Z (chords).
Different Quantum Numbers
If an electron lived in two dimensions, then, as a wave, two quantum numbers are
needed be enough to describe it – one for the number of radial nodes and one for
the number of angular nodes:
Waves in 3-dimensions
If an electron exists in three dimensions, then how many quantum numbers are
needed to describe its motion on an atom?

A 1

B 2

C 3

D infinite
Have a think Don’t know
E

You will see in Topic 2, threshold lesson, that there are indeed three spatial quantum numbers to describe an
electron on an atom and we give them the labels, n, l, ml and we call this wave an “orbital”.
(There is a 4th quantum number, ms, which describes the spin on the electron, but not the shape of the orbital/wave)

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