Born-Oppenheimer approximation.
The notion that the motion of atomic nuclei and electrons can be separated
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About Born-Oppenheimer approximation
In quantum chemistry and molecular physics, the Born–Oppenheimer (BO) approximation is the assumption that the wave functions of atomic nuclei and electrons in a molecule can be treated separately, based on the fact that the nuclei are much heavier than the electrons. Due to the larger relative mass of a nucleus compared to an electron, the coordinates of the nuclei in a system are approximated as fixed, while the coordinates of the electrons are dynamic. The approach is named after Max Born and his 23-year-old graduate student J. Robert Oppenheimer, the latter of whom proposed it in 1927 during a period of intense ferment in the development of quantum mechanics.
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