Penetration

For two hydrogen atoms (one on the left and one on the right) electron-proton penetration occurs here as well. There are two such terms (the green curve). One is cancelled by the nuclear repulsion (the blue curve) as before. But now, electron-electron interpenetration is added (the yellow curve) and occurs at a greater distance than electron-nuclear penetration. The net effect is a small attraction (the red curve)

Click to rotate image.

Reset
Figure 1. Potential Energy curve for the interaction between a proton and hydrogen atom given by Eqn. (1), \(\zeta=1\).

Page 4