Electron paths ?

[reverse]

I’m just trying to visualise a water molecule.

As if it was as big as a solar system.

 

for water, I need two Oxygen atoms and one Hydrogen atom.

 

So I have three solar systems interplaying with each other.

 

the planet Hydrogen has one moon (electron) and so on.

 

Are the moons staying around their own planets or are they being swapped?

[swansont]

Electron orbitals are not like solar system orbits.

[reverse]

Oh thanks,

I thought the response was going to be something like…

“don’t try and visualise sub atomic stuff”.

 

Yep , I kind of figured that they were not the same.

 

That blue shape in my avatar is one of the theoretical probability clouds for just a hydrogen atom’s electron.!

 

Can you imagine what a water molecule would look like!

 

I just was wondering if the electrons were wandering within the molecule?

[SimonC]

I’m just trying to visualise a water molecule.

 

for water' date=' I need two Oxygen atoms and one Hydrogen atom.

 

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I think you mean two Hydrogen atoms and one Oxygen atom

[CPL.Luke]

those clouds are actually probability waves of where the particle could be.

[DQW]

If you want to picture something, this is the best you can do : Imagine 4 cloudy lobes (shaped like very eccentric ovoids) sticking out of the central Oxygen atom and pointing towards the corners of a regular tetrahedron (centered on the Oxygen nucleus). Now pick 2 of these 4 lobes and stick a proton on the end of each one. Now pull these two lobes just a little closer to each other (reduce the angle between them from about 109 deg to about 104.5 deg). That's what your water molecule will look like.

 

Each of these lobes corresponds to a pair of electrons, both sharing the same z-component of orbital angular momentum.