Darwin Term
Thus, the Darwin term affects only the s-orbit. For example it gives the 2s-orbit the same energy as the 2p-orbit by raising the 2s-state by 9.057×10−5 eV.
The Darwin term changes the effective potential at the nucleus. It can be interpreted as a smearing out of the electrostatic interaction between the electron and nucleus due to zitterbewegung, or rapid quantum oscillations, of the electron.
Another mechanism that affects only the s-state is the Lamb shift. The reader should not confuse the Darwin term with the Lamb shift. The Darwin term makes the s-state and p-state the same energy, but the Lamb shift makes the s-state higher in energy than the p-state.
Read more about this topic: Fine Structure
Famous quotes containing the words darwin and/or term:
“From the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”
—Charles Darwin (1809–1882)
“Narcissist: psychoanalytic term for the person who loves himself more than his analyst; considered to be the manifestation of a dire mental disease whose successful treatment depends on the patient learning to love the analyst more and himself less.”
—Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)