One of the more difficult aspects of atomic structure theory at the undergraduate level lies in understanding the specific roles played by the radial and angular parts of hydrogenic wave functions in giving the atomic orbitals their three-dimensional shapes. This article describes how three-dimensional contour plots of spherical harmonics may be generated using Mathcad, versions 4.0 or higher. Mathcad is relatively inexpensive, runs on inexpensive PC's, and has a very intuitive user interface.
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