A Quantum Mechanics Treatment of the Water Molecule

Abstract

The perturbation method of Heitler and London has been applied to study the interaction of the atoms in the water molecule. For a preliminary calculation an arbitrary internuclear distance has been assumed, and no ionic wave function has been considered. The calculated binding energy, 3.5 volts, is too small, as was to be expected. An analysis of the sources of this energy in various types of resonance or electron interchange is developed, and the results compared with Slater's simplified model. Methods for the evaluation of electron reactions involving three centers are described, including a possible alternative for the customary Neumann method, applicable to two-center problems. Formulas for products of bi-axial surface harmonics and their integrals are given.