Wave Function

[Chiara Frank]

As we have not gone as much in depth with the Shrodinger Equation, I wanted to ask a conceptual question about this. What does this equation tell us about the wave function without having the exact function? Would we need to calculate that sin function first to be able to apply this equation? Thank you!

[Sophia Kangavari 1D]

Hello, I think what the equation tells us is that the wave-function squared gives us the probability density, or the probability of finding where we can find an electron which ranges from 0, certainly not there, to 1, certainly there.
Hope that helps!

[Sevde Coban 2J]

To add onto this, in the Schrodinger equation, d2(wavefunction)/dx2 measures the sharpness of the wavefunction curve. The Schrodinger equation is used to calculate the values of a wavefunction that give the probability of finding a particle in a region.

[Grace Chen 3F]

I think the equation just gives us an idea of how did we get all the shapes of atomic orbitals (when double derivative of wave function equals to an energy that matches experimental value, the wave function is valid and describes an atomic orbital) and the probability that an e- might appear in the orbitals (wave function ^2). We don't need to know the calculations of the actual wave function.

[Kaitlyn Bateman 1L]

Hi even though we haven't gone too much into depth about this equation, we can find the electron density based on the equation.

[Marie Khijniak 2E]

Hi Chiara!
Schrodinger’s Wavefunction equation tells us the total energy of a particle based off of its wave-like properties (its potential and kinetic energies falling under the Hamiltonian operator). However, the most important thing that we have to know that the wavefunction squared of an electron gives us the probability of finding that electron at a certain distance from the nucleus, giving us the shapes of the different orbitals that we know and love :).

[Lexi Tempera 3B]

Hi!

Schrodinger's equation is also used to "create" atomic orbitals, in that orbitals are a mathematical function of the probability and electron is in a given area.

Hope this tidbit helps!

[QUEP 2F]

Hi!
Schrodinger’s wavefunction equation tells us the total energy of a particle based on its wave-like properties, describing both the energy and position of the electron. Taking the square of the wavefunction gives us the probability of finding that electron at a distance x from the nucleus.