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<rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Probing the shape of atoms in real space · HackerPapers discussions</title><link>https://hackerpaper.kaipfister.de/p/cond-mat_0305103/</link><description>Collected HN comments and submissions linking this paper.</description><language>en</language><lastBuildDate>Mon, 02 Nov 2026 11:16:22 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hackerpaper.kaipfister.de/p/cond-mat_0305103/feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /><item><title>Probing the shape of atoms in real space — mentioned by mncharity</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23694201</link><guid isPermaLink="false">urn:hackerpapers:mention:cond-mat_0305103:23694201</guid><pubDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2020 20:04:41 GMT</pubDate><description>&lt;p&gt;As commented elsewhere, the OP renders look perhaps not quite right. But in general... Atoms are little balls. With electron density that&amp;#x27;s mostly spherically symmetric. It&amp;#x27;s very high at the nucleus, and falls off exponentially outward. Down by several orders of magnitude by the time you reach distances at which atoms hang out together. A 2D analogue might be a stereotypic volcano, if height were density. I wish I knew of a better one. Few familiar objects have this degree of fuzzy. Diffusing smells, but you can&amp;#x27;t see those. The common representations with a solidish surface at some large…&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://hackerpaper.kaipfister.de/p/cond-mat_0305103/"&gt;Paper and discussion history&lt;/a&gt;. A mention is not an endorsement.&lt;/p&gt;</description><category>cond-mat.mtrl-sci</category></item></channel></rss>
