Atomic Physics – What Is a Standing Wave?

atomic-physicsorbitalswavefunctionwaves

I'm a highschool sophomore, bear this is mind when answering this question, in other words, the answer doesn't need to be in total layman terms, but it should be understandable by an applied highschool student.

  1. I have no idea what a standing wave is. Please, explain?

  2. Bonus question: How is a standing wave related to the atomic orbit? It is my understanding that the atomic orbit is a mathematical function that describes the probability of an electron being at a certain place, but it is also the image of this function in terms of real space, (i.e. the actual 3 dimensional volume around the nucleus that a particular electron calls "home").

Best Answer

An animation is worth a million words:

running waves forming a standing one

Related Question