Orbital Motion (quantum)

Orbital Motion (quantum)

Quantum orbital motion involves the quantum mechanical motion of rigid particles (such as electrons) about some other mass, or about themselves. Typically, orbital motion in classical motion is characterized by orbital angular momentum (the orbital motion of the center of mass) and spin, which is the motion about the center of mass. In quantum mechanics, there are analogous forms of spin and angular momentum, however they differ fundamentally from the models of classical bodies. For example, an electron (one of the main particles of concern in quantum mechanics) exhibits very quantum mechanical behavior it its motion around the nucleus of an atom which cannot be explained by classical mechanics.