This book describes atomic orbitals at a level suitable for
undergraduates in chemistry. The mathematical treatment is brought to
life by many illustrations rendered from mathematical functions (no
artists' impressions), including three-dimensional plots of angular
functions, showing orbital phase, and contour plots of the wavefunctions
that result from orbital hybridisation.Orbitals extends the key
fundamental quantum properties to many-electron atoms, linear
combinations of atomic orbitals, simple molecules, delocalised systems
and atomic spectroscopy. By focusing on simple model systems, use of
analogies and avoiding group theory the results are obtained from
initial postulates without the need for sophisticated mathematics.