Hydrogen Atom Visualizer

How does an atom really look?

For a long time, we pictured the electron orbiting the nucleus like a planet circling the sun.

But that model was rejected, when we discovered that the world sometimes works in yet stranger ways.

You are looking at a Quantum Probability Cloud. According to the Schrödinger Equation, electrons do not orbit the nucleus in flat circles like planets. Instead, they exist as a "cloud" of probability.

Every pearl you see represents a possible location where the electron is likely to be found. The swirling motion represents the Probability Current: a physical flow of the wave function dictated by the magnetic quantum number.

Parameters



n (Principal): Determines the distance from the nucleus and the energy level (Shells).

l (Azimuthal): Determines the shape of the orbital (s=sphere, p=dumbbell, d=clover). Can not be larger than n - 1.

m (Magnetic): Determines the orientation of the region of space occupied by an electron with respect to an applied magnetic field. Can not be larger than l.

Each wave function with an allowed combination of n,l and m values describes an atomic orbital, a particular spatial distribution for an electron.