Atomic orbitals 3s electron density

Animated plot of the 3s electron density function (ψ3s)2. The blue zones are where the wave function has positive values and the white zones denote negative values.

The graph on the right is a plot of values along a single line drawn through the nucleus while the surface plot on the left shows values of ψ3s2 on a plane including the nucleus.

The "surface" of the three-dimensional orbital at the centre of each animation represents points for which the electron density for that orbital is the same - an isosurface. By choosing different values of electron density, denoted by the bar moving up and down on the line plot or by the moving plane on the surface plot, then the size of the three-dimensional plot changes. The three-dimensional orbital shape at the top on the left is sliced in half to show that there is no spherical node in the 1s orbital.

See the 3s page for comparable information about its wave function.

All values of electron density are of necessity not negative since the square of any real number cannot be less than zero.


The OrbitronTM, a gallery of orbitals on the WWW: https://winter.group.shef.ac.uk/orbitron/
Copyright 2002-2023 Prof. Mark Winter [The University of Sheffield]. All rights reserved.