7.

2 Solution of the Schrödinger Equation for Hydrogen 247

Table 7.1 Hydrogen Atom Radial Wave Functions

n O R nO(r)

2
1 0 er /a 0
1a0 2 3/2
r er /2a 0
2 0 a2  b
a0 12a0 2 3/2
r er /2a 0
2 1
a0 1312a0 2 3/2
1 2 r r2
3 0 a 27  18  2 2 b er /3a 0
1a0 2 3/2
8113 a0 a0
1 4 r r
3 1 a 6  b er /3a 0
1a0 2 3/2
8116 a0 a0
1 4 r 2 r /3a 0
3 2 e
1a0 2 3/2
81130 a02

Table 7.2 Normalized Spherical Harmonics Y(␪, ␾)

O mO Ym 

1
0 0
21p

1 3
1 0 cos u
2Bp

1 3
1 1  sin u ei f
2 B 2p

1 5
2 0 13 cos2 u  12
4Bp

1 15
2 1  sin u cos u ei f
2 B 2p

1 15
2 2 sin2 u e2i f
4 B 2p

1 7
3 0 15 cos3 u  3 cos u 2
4Bp

1 21
3 1  sin u 15 cos2 u  12 ei f
8B p

1 105
3 2 sin2 u cos u e2i f
4 B 2p

1 35
3 3  sin3 u e3i f
8B p
248 Chapter 7 The Hydrogen Atom

We discussed probability densities in Sections 5.7 and 6.1. From Equation

(6.16), we see that the probability density for the electron in the hydrogen atom
is given by c*c. Therefore, the spherical harmonics together with the radial
wave function R will determine the overall shape of the probability density for
the various quantum states. The total wave function c(r, u, f) depends on the
quantum numbers n, /, and m /. We can now write the wave function as
cn /m / 1r, u, f 2  Rn / 1r2 Y/m / 1u, f 2 (7.17)
where we indicate by the subscripts that R n/(r) depends only on n and /, and Y/m/
(u, f) depends only on / and m /. We shall look at these wave functions again in
Section 7.6.

EXAMPLE 7.2

Show that the hydrogen wave function c211 is normalized. where we have combined factors. The normalization condi-
tion from Equation (7.18) becomes
Strategy We refer to Equation (6.8) in Chapter 6 where
we normalized the wave function in one dimension. Now we
want to normalize the wave function in three dimensions in
冮c *
211c211r
2
sin u dr d u d f
p 2p

冮 冮 sin 冮
q
spherical polar coordinates. The normalization condition is 1
 r 4e r /a 0 dr 3
du df
64pa 05
冮c 冮c
0 0 0
*
n /m /cn /m / dt  1  *
211c211r
2
sin u d r d u d f (7.18)
1 4
 324a 05 4 c d 32p 4
where dt  r sin u dr d u df is the volume element. We look
2 64pa 05 3
up the wave function c211 using Tables 7.1 and 7.2. 1
r /2a 0
r e 1 3 We have not shown all the steps in the integration, but we
c211  R21Y11  c dc sin ue i f d
a 0 23 12a 2 3/2 2 B 2p have shown the results of each integration in each of the
0
square brackets. The integrals needed are in Appendix 3.
Solution We insert the wave function c211 into Equation The wave function is indeed normalized.
(7.18), insert the integration limits for r, u, and f, and do
the integration. First we find c2*11c211:
1
c*211c211  r 2er /a 0 sin2 u
64pa05

7.3 Quantum Numbers

The three quantum numbers obtained from solving Equation (7.3) are

n Principal quantum number

O Orbital angular momentum quantum number
m O Magnetic quantum number

Boundary conditions were Their values are obtained by applying the boundary conditions to the wave func-
given in Section 6.1. tion c(r, u, f) as discussed in Section 6.1. The boundary conditions require that