Bond length field wave functions

Central Field Model of Tetrahedral and Octahedral Molecules.—The idea is very simple, and has long been exploited in the sense of one-centre expansions of molecular wave functions in a molecule like CH4. However, to exemplify the way the density description can afford answers to questions (i)—(iii) above, we take the model literally in which, in methane for example, we smear the protons uniformly over the surface of a sphere of radius R, equal, in the methane example to the C—H bond length. 

The calculation of electronic energies and wave functions made impressive progress during the second half of the twentieth century, a development that ran parallel to the improvement of computer technology. At the same time, the new subject of quantum chemistry became standardized and automatized. There is now an army of users of ready programs who calculate bond lengths and reaction barriers with ever inaeasing accuracy. Unfortunately, there appears to be some hesitation to tackle more difficult problems, such as transfer of protons, electrons, and excitations. These fields were pioneered by, for example, Rudy Marcus, Norman Sutin, Noel Hush, Joshua Jortner, John R. Miller, and Ahmed Zewail. It has become customary to refer to physics and chemistry based on the quantum mechanical behavior of the elementary particles, atoms and molecules, as chemical physics, and this explains the main title of this book. 

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