Atomic Rydberg Units

Our starting point are Gaussian units for our physical equation and amounts. We then choose: = 2m = e2 =1 2 (1)

where m is the mass of an electron and e its charge. [Remark: We can actually start from SI units too. But since SI units have 4 basic units (m, kg, s and A), (1) is not sucient to make everything is dimensionless, e.g. a0 = 40 . The choice 0 = 1/4 leads to the same unit for length, energy and time (and this choice is used in the) table. But for now we want to keep things simple.] So the unit for angular momentum is , the unit for mass is 2m and the unit for charge is e/ 2. Hereby all other units are dened too. The Bohr radius is the unit for length dened as:
2

a0

me2

= 1 5.29 109 cm

(2)

Likewise the Rydberg energy is the unit for energy: ERyd e2 me4 = 1 2.18 1011 erg 13.6 eV = 2 2a0 2

Time is the ratio of an angular momentum and an energy, therefore the unit for time is: t0 ERyd 2 3 = = 1 4.84 1017 s 4 me (3)

Now we know how to convert centimeters, grams and seconds. So it is now straight forward to convert all physical quantities to the CGS system. The unit of speed is the ratio of length and time, so e2 a0 = = 1 1.094 108 cm/s . t0 2 We can now give a value for the light in vacuum c in atomic Rydberg units: c 2.998 1010 cm/s 274 1.094 108 cm/s

A more elegant way to get the same result is to use the relation of c with the ne structure constant : = e2 2 1 = c c 137 c= 2 274

Gaussian units are good for calculations, but a little cumbersome for giving explicit values for quantities. The table is therefore made for converting quantities in Atomic Rydberg units (numbers), into SI units. The table is arranged so that one Atomic Rydberg unit equals the corresponding number of units in SI. 1

Conversion Table for Atomic Rydberg and MKSA Units Atomic Rydberg units (ARU) dened by: Quantity Length Mass Time Frequency Speed Momentum Force Power Energy Charge Charge density Current Current density Electric eld Potential Polarization Conductivity Resistance Capacitance Magnetic ux Magnetic induction Magnetization Inductance some constants: Plancks quantum h = 2 Charge of electron Bohr radius, 2 /me2 Energy 1 electron Volt Rydberg energy, e2 /2a0 Hartree energy, e2 /a0 Speed of light Permeability of vacuum Permittivity of vacuum Bohr magneton Mass of electron Mass of proton Mass of neutron Gravitation constant Symbol m t v p F P E q I J E P R C B M L = 2me = e2 /2 = 1 (and 40 = 1). MKSA 5.2917725 1011 m 0.5 A 30 1.8218779 10 kg 17 4.8377687 10 s 1/20 fs 16 2.0670687 10 Hz 1.0938457 106 m/s 1.9928534 1024 kgm/s 4.1193647 108 N 45.059494 mW 2.1798741 1018 J 13.6 eV 1.1329105 1019 C 7.6452571 1011 C/m3 2.3418037 mA 8.3627316 1017 A/m2 3.6360903 1011 V/m 19.241363 V 40.456961 C/m2 2.2999241 106 S/m 8.2164712 k 5.8878910 1021 F 9.3085262 1016 Wb 3.3241346 105 T 4.4253673 107 A/m 3.9749387 1013 H 1.05457266 1034 Js 6.6260755 1034 Js 1.60217733 1019 C 5.29177249 1011 m 1.60217733 1019 J 2.1798741 1018 J 4.3597482 1018 J 2.99792458 108 m/s 4 107 H/m 8.854187817 1012 F/m 9.2740154 1024 J/T 9.1093897 1031 kg 1.6726231 1027 kg 1.6749286 1027 kg 6.67259 1011 Nm2 /kg2

ARU 1=a0 1=2me 1 1 1 1 1 1 1=ERyd 1=e/ 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 1/13.605698 1 2 2/ 274 2 1.7104 1/4 0.08 2 1/2 918.07638 919.34183 1.920001042

h e a0 eV ERyd Eh c 0 0 B me mp mn G

is the ne structure constant: = e2 / c = 1/137.0359895 2