513.001 Molecular and Solid State Physics

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Physical
Constants

Periodic System
of Elements

      

Molecular orbitals

 
 

An isolated carbon atom has two 2s electrons and two 2p electrons. When it forms methane CH4, it forms sp3 hybrid orbitals where one of the 2s electrons gets promoted into the 2p shell. You could show that this decreases the total energy for the molecule by calculating the molecular orbitals. Write down the Hamiltonian and the wave function that you will need to calculate the molecular orbitals. Explain how to calculate the energy of the molecular orbitals.