Practice in Graphing Molecular-Orbitals by Using Microsoft Excel

Abstract

We present some practical studies of drawing the graphs of the radial functions and the distribution functions for the hydrogen-like atom and of drawing the three-dimensional contour plots of H₂⁺ molecular-orbitals and hybrid orbitals by using Microsoft Excel in university courses. Some of the three-dimensional contour representations thus obtained are not consistent with figures given in various textbooks of quantum chemistry, and the usual explanations are liable to cause misunderstandings.