written by
Wolfgang Christian, Harvey Gould, and Jan Tobochnik
The classical-physics model of helium is a simple example of a three body problem and is similar to gravitational problem of a heavy sun and two light planets. It consists of two electrons moving in a 2/r potential well and interacting through a 1/r potential. Initial conditions can be set to show phenomena such as autoionization or braided orbits. These conditions are stored in an xml document.
Last Modified May 21, 2008