Invisible wrote:
> Darren New wrote:
>> That we can photograph individual atoms and electrons
>>
http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2009/09/electron_clouds_seeing_is_beli.html
> 
> 
> Uh... why are the orbitals such weird shapes?
> 

Wave functions. The orbital isn't where the electron actually is, just
where it is statistically likely to be. For the math that just goes
right over my head, I found
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Atomic_orbital to be readable.

I still am not sure which stuns me more: that those pictures come out
looking close enough to the existing models, suggesting that we got it
right; or that there are just enough things wrong that we may have to
replace the whole model. Either way, the pictures are amazing.

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