David Woon, Thom Dunning (University of Illinois – Urbana/Champaign, USA)
We are developing a new module for introductory chemistry courses that covers atoms, bonding, and molecules in a way that accurately reflects modern quantum chemical knowledge. In this talk, we will provide an overview of the section of the module that covers the basics of quantum theory and the electronic structure of atoms. Our approach is to build atoms electron-by-electron on the foundation of a set of nuclei. This makes it very easy for students to see and understand trends across the rows and columns of the periodic table and to understand the origin of the relative stabilities of cationic, neutral, and anionic charge states of atoms. All orbitals are generated from actual quantum chemical calculations.
