Special Topic Quantum Mechanics and Babies

We might imagine that molecular orbitals and quantum mechanics, so critical in the microscopic world, would have little real influence on our day-to-day lives because we really do live in a world of baseballs, not electrons. Or so it would seem. Yet it has been argued that a new-born baby becomes conscious of... the consequences 

The answer is that the apparent solidity of matter is the result of Pauli forces. When your hand encounters the table top, the electrons in the atoms of your hand and the electrons in the atoms of the table top have the same spins and nearly the same energies. The Pauli principle ensures that these electrons cannot occupy the same regions of space, that the table top feels solid to your touch, even though Rutherford showed us that it is not. Were it not for the Pauli principle our apprehension of the world would be vastly different. 

Atomic orbitals (mathematically described by wave functions) are defined by four quantum numbers, n, /, mi, and i. Electrons may have only certain energies determined by these quantum numbers. Orbitals have different, well-defined shapes s orbitals are spherically symmetric, orbitals are roughly dumbbell shaped, d and/ orbitals are more comphcated. An orbital may contain a maximum of two electrons. 

Some molecules cannot be well described by a single Lewis structure but are better represented by two or more different electronic descriptions. This phenomenon is called resonance. Be sure you are clear on the difference between an equilibrium between two different molecules and the description of a single molecule using a number of different resonance forms. 

This orbital-forming process can be generalized when you mix n orbitals into the calculation, the mathematical solution will produce n new orbitals. 

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An Introduction to Reactivity Acids and Bases Special Topic Quantum Mechanics and Babies Summary... 

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