The Recently Claimed Observation of Atomic Orbitals and

Scerri, E.R. 2001. The Recently Claimed Observation of Atomic Orbitals and Some Related Philosophical Issues. Philosophy of Science 68 S76-S88. 

Scerri E (2000) Have orbitals really been observed J Chem Educ 77 1492-1494 Scerri E (2001) The recently claimed observation of atomic orbitals and some related philosophical issues. Philos Sci 68 S76-S88... 

The Recently Claimed Observation of Atomic Orbitals and Smne Related Philosophical Issues... 

Unlike the infamous and recent case of cold fusion, the claims made for the observation of atomic orbitals were not presented at a press conference but, as mentioned above, were announced in the world s most... 

Of course it is still possible to use the complex mathematical expressions, corresponding to the different type of orbital solutions to the hydrogen atom problem, in order to build up a wavefunction that approximates that of a many-electron atom or molecule. In such cases, we are using orbitals in a purely instrumental fashion to model the wavefunction of the atom or molecule and there is no pretense, at least by experts in the field, that the constituent orbitals used in this modeling procedure possess any independent existence. Contrary to the recent claims which appeared in Natme magazine, as well as many other publications, orbitals have not been observed (Scerri 2000b, 2001). 

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