fredag 13 oktober 2023

Why Helium Does Not Form Helium2 Molecule?

RealQM may explain why Helium He does not form a He2 molecule like Hydrogen H forming a H2 molecule. In the RealQM model of the He atom its two electrons share the volume around the kernel in two half-spherical lobes meeting at a common separating plane appearing as a free boundary. In the plot below you see two nearby He atoms forming a He2 system with two of the electronic half-lobes meeting between the kernels and the other two on both sides of the system. 

The total energy of the He2 system is by RealQM computed to be -5.81 Hartree (see plot and code), which is very close to that of two separate He atoms of -5.806 Hartree, and so we find that He does not have tendency to form He2 as a molecule, according to RealQM. 



We now compare with H which forms H2 molecule from a concentration of electron density between the kernels with lower energy (-1.17) than two separate H atoms (-1), as shown in this computation: 


What is then the difference between H forming H2 and He not forming He2? What is the difference between a +1 kernel surrounded by a -1 charge and a +2 kernel surrounded by -2 charge? Inspecting the plots we understand that the two outer halt-lobes in He2 are repelled by the two inner half-lobes and so are prevented from concentrating between the kernels. This is not so for H2 since in RealQM electrons are not subject to self-repulsion, as discussed in previous post. 

There is thus a difference between a shell with several repelling electrons (2 for He)  and a homogenised shell without self-repulsion (1 for H). This is accounted for in this spherical shell model of RealQM.

Standard QM offers a qualitative explanation by He having a full 1st shell without incentive to combine,  while a quantitive computation requiring 12 space dimensions may be out of reach.    


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