Lithium atom Lithium atom A lithium atom is an atom of the chemical element lithium. Lithium is composed of three electrons bound by the electromagnetic force to a nucleus containing three protons along with either three or four neutrons, depending on the isotope, held together by the strong force. Similarly to the case of the helium atom, a closed-form solution to the Schrödinger equation for the lithium atom has not been found. However, various approximations, such as the Hartree–Fock method, can be used to estimate the ground state energy and wavefunction of the atom. The quantum defect is a value that describes
Hot atom Hot atom In physical chemistry, a hot atom is an atom that has a high kinetic or internal energy. When molecule AB adsorbs on a surface dissociatively, In case 2, B gains a high translational energy from the adsorption energy of A, and hot atom B is generated. For example, the hydrogen molecule, because of its light mass, gets a high translational energy. Such a hot atom does not fly into vacuum but is trapped on the surface, where it diffuses with high energy. Hot atoms are expected to play important roles in catalytic reactions. For example, a reaction of