Orbital Atômico: Conceitos, Ontologia e Ensino

Abstract

The concepts of atomic orbital are fundamental for the understanding and explanation of a large part of Chemistry. However, it is suggested that the formation of chemists does not contribute significantly to the learning of such concepts and it is claimed that chemical conception of orbital is impregnated with an uncritical realism. The purpose of this work is to argue in favor of a higher education in Chemistry which considers two concepts of atomic orbital, within the scope of a broader conception of reality. For that, we will examine the elaboration of these concepts through the analysis of the chemical literature and discuss the controversy about the reality of the orbitals. We conclude by the need for higher education in Chemistry to deal with orbitals both as wave functions and as regions of space, whose existence can be conceived in different ways, according to the adopted point of view.