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Ab Initio Calculations

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Geochemistry

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

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Definition

Molecular orbital theory is an approach to solving the Schrödinger equation for the motion of electrons in molecules (as well as atoms). Such calculations are known as ab initio (from first principles) electronic structure calculations . The molecular orbitals are usually expressed as sums of atomic orbitals, and the rules of quantum mechanics including the Pauli exclusion principle are followed. The use of molecular orbital theory ranges from qualitative where it is used to provide a description of the electron occupancy in a molecule to explain experimental results from photoelectron spectroscopy and electronic spectroscopy to extremely quantitative with a focus on precise predictions of molecular energetics and spectroscopic parameters.

Overview

Molecules contain electrons which have a low enough mass that the laws of quantum mechanics must be used to describe them if the electronic structure of an atom or molecule needs to be studied. In order to predict the energy of...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA

    David A. Dixon

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  1. David A. Dixon
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Correspondence to David A. Dixon .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth, Cornell University Department of Earth, Ithaca, New York, USA

    William M. White

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Dixon, D. (2016). Ab Initio Calculations. In: White, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_16-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_16-1

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