CHED 412 |
| For chemists and physicists, a deep understanding of fundamental quantum concepts is necessary. But for most others, including the great majority of the students in general chemistry, the wave nature of the electron and the simple model of a spherical electron wave, together with electrostatics, is sufficient to understand molecules and most of their properties. The charge cloud model of electrons developed by Kimball about half a century ago and elaborated by Bent about a decade later provides a picture of molecules held together by attractions of the negatively charged electron clouds to positively charged atomic cores. The model correlates well with Lewis structures and predicts molecular geometries just as well as hybridization and VSEPR theory. Although students can use computer programs to generate beautiful charge-density pictures of molecules, it's doubtful that these provide any understanding of the attractions between plus and minus charges that hold the molecules together. |
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Teaching Quantum Concepts in Chemistry
1:30 PM-4:45 PM, Tuesday, 12 September 2006 San Francisco Marriott -- Salon 6, Oral
Division of Chemical Education |