The Quantisation of the Screening Constant

Abstract

Relationships are given in which the 'screening defect' is expressed in terms of the quantum numbers n and I for both the ground and excited states of neutral atoms for which the electron configuration can be considered as one electron and a core of completed shells. It is further shown that the same functions determine the ground-state energies for any series of neutral atoms with the same outer shell configuration. An explanation is offered in terms of wavefunctions with fewer nodes than the corresponding hydrogen wavefunctions.