La naturaleza del enlace químico 2013 ¡No existe tal cosa llamada orbital!

Abstract

Despite the fact that the chemical bond is a fiction, although convenient and nearly harmless, it plays an enormous role in the thinking, and especially the education, of chemists at all levels. Much further fiction has accumulated during the past 85 years; although, when the ideas about bonds, orbitals, hybridization and related topics originated and became widely known, largely through the verbal and written efforts of Pauling, they seemed plausible and helpful, the powerful experiments and calculations now available show those efforts and concepts to lack a firm foundation. Their continued promulgation is counterproductive to a profound understanding and communication of chemical knowledge. In this essay we discuss the origin and amplification of various ideas and terms that are common in textbooks of chemistry and in the lessons of instructors of chemistry but that are no longer acceptable as scientific truth.