## psi vs psi^2

$H_{\psi }=E_{\psi }$

1-D: $E_{TOTAL}\psi (x)=E_{k}\psi (x)+V(x)\psi(x)=-\frac{h^{2}}{8\pi ^{2}m}\frac{d^{2}\psi(x)}{dx^{2}}+V(x)\psi(x)$

JohannaPerezH2F
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Joined: Wed Sep 18, 2019 12:18 am

### psi vs psi^2

Hi can someone further explain the difference between psi and psi^2?

McKenna_4A
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Joined: Sat Aug 24, 2019 12:18 am

### Re: psi vs psi^2

Psi is the height of a wave at any position on a 3D plane (x,y,z). Psi^2 represents the probability of finding an electron at any point (x,y,z). It's a pretty confusing concept that isn't really analyzed further until more advanced chem classes. Don't stress on it to much.

Ashley Tran 2I
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Joined: Thu Jul 11, 2019 12:17 am

### Re: psi vs psi^2

As McKenna mentioned, the concept isn't a big thing to stress over understanding.

The main point of today's lecture is for us to know that orbitals aren't just shapes drawn when talking about electrons or stating what the electron is s/p/d/etc. as we might have in high school. They are actually mathematical models aka wave functions aka psi to describe the movement of electrons and how electrons have wavelike properties and don't collapse into the nucleus of an atom.

When we take the square of this (psi^2) we get the probability of finding an electron at any point in space (x,y,z) around the nucleus.

Mitchell Koss 4G
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### Re: psi vs psi^2

Psi is also used in biology so make sure to understand it now to have an easier time in future classes.

Angela Patel 2J
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### Re: psi vs psi^2

Why can orbitals be referred to in terms of psi OR psi^2? Are they interchangeable?

Michael Du 1E
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Joined: Sun Sep 22, 2019 12:16 am

### Re: psi vs psi^2

Adding on to Ashley, the orbitals can also be interpreted as regions of probability where an electron can be found rather than just simply shapes as introduced in high school.

Emily_4B
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### Re: psi vs psi^2

What do we need to apply psi and psi^2 to, in terms of equations?

Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Aug 17, 2019 12:17 am

### Re: psi vs psi^2

JohannaPerezH3D wrote:Hi can someone further explain the difference between psi and psi^2?

psi is the wave function that represents the state of the electron, while psi^2 is the probability of finding the electron. The main focus of psi is the quantum numbers (n, l, nl) and the spin state ms associated with it. psi^2 or the probability, is not what should be thought of, when describing the state of an electron completely.