Jan 17 Class Notes.

These notes summarize some of what we covered this week, Jan 15 and 17, especially the ways of summarizing the 1st excited states (of the H-atom potential) that we explored on the 17th. Please let me know of you would be interested in a video discussing anything about these states.

Perhaps it might seem like we went to a lot of trouble and effort to delve into these states (the first excited states) in a lot of confusing detail. After all, isn't this just one of many such degeneracy manifolds? How important could it really be?  Well, I think it is extremely important. Understanding these 4 degenerate states (in their different manifestations) really well is the key to understanding the most important aspects of the periodic table, as well as the structures of molecules such as H2O, CH4, C6H6, etc., not to mention semiconductors. Within these states lies the key to understanding some of the most important things in our world.