Point charge theory

The variation of the data from the point charge theory can be accounted for on the assumption that both the charge and magnetic moment of the proton are spread out over a finite distance. On the assumption that the magnetic moment and electric charge have the same distribution, they find that a root mean square ra us of about 7X10" cm fits the data they have obtained at several energies up to 236 Mev. 

Specific solute-solvent interactions involving the first solvation shell only can be treated in detail by discrete solvent models. The various approaches like point charge models, siipennoleciilar calculations, quantum theories of reactions in solution, and their implementations in Monte Carlo methods and molecular dynamics simulations like the Car-Parrinello method are discussed elsewhere in this encyclopedia. Here only some points will be briefly mentioned that seem of relevance for later sections. 

The Fenske-Hall method is a modification of crystal held theory. This is done by using a population analysis scheme, then replacing orbital interactions with point charge interactions. This has been designed for the description of inorganic metal-ligand systems. There are both parameterized and unparameterized forms of this method. 

Further simphfication of the SPM and RPM is to assume the ions are point charges with no hard-core correlations, i.e., du = 0. This is called the Debye-Huckel (DH) level of treatment, and an early Nobel prize was awarded to the theory of electrolytes in the infinite-dilution limit [31]. This model can capture the long-range electrostatic interactions and is expected to be valid only for dilute solutions. An analytical solution is available by solving the Pois-son-Boltzmann (PB) equation for the distribution of ions (charges). The PB equation is... 

The great success of DH theory provoked numerous attempts at improvement and extension to more concentrated solutions, hi the equations reported in Section 7.4.2, known as the first approximation, ion size was disregarded all ions were treated as point charges. This is reflected in Eq. (7.30), where the integration was started from r = 0 (i.e., it was assumed that other ions can, however, closely approach the central ion and that all these ions have zero radius). 

A rigorous solution of this problem was attempted, for example, in the hard sphere approximation by D. Henderson, L. Blum, and others. Here the discussion will be limited to the classical Gouy-Chapman theory, describing conditions between the bulk of the solution and the outer Helmholtz plane and considering the ions as point charges and the solvent as a structureless dielectric of permittivity e. The inner electrical potential 0(1) of the bulk of the solution will be taken as zero and the potential in the outer Helmholtz plane will be denoted as 02. The space charge in the diffuse layer is given by the Poisson equation... 

An expression for e(k) in the case of a Fermi gas of free electrons can be obtained by considering the effect of an introduced point charge potential, small enough so the arguments of perturbation theory are valid. In the absence of this potential, the electronic wave functions are plane waves V 1/2exp(ik r), where V is the volume of the system, and the electron density is uniform. The point charge potential is screened by the electrons, so that the potential felt by an electron, O, is due to the point charge and to the other electrons, whose wave functions are distorted from plane waves. The electron density and the potential are related by the Poisson equation,... 

In a perturbation theory treatment of the total (not just electrostatic) interaction between the molecule and the point charge, QV(r) is the first-order term in the expression for the total interaction energy (which would include polarization and other effects). 

Some Basics. The field theory of electrostatics expresses experimentally observable action-at-a-distance phenomena between electrical charges in terms of the vector electric field E (r, t), which is a function of position r and time t. Accordingly, the electric field is often interpreted as force per unit charge. Thus, the force exerted on a test charge q, by this electric field is qtE. The electric field due to a point charge q in a dielectric medium placed at the origin r = 0 of a spherical coordinate system is... 

The origin of zero-field terms in the spin Hamiltonian is rooted in crystal-field theory, in which coordination complexes are represented as geometric structures of point charges (Stevens 1997). The crystal-field potential of these point charges is... 

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