Calculation of the ionization potential of lithium

The Schrodinger partial differential equation is reduced to an equivalent problem in the calculus of variations and this problem is then directly solved by the use of trial wave functions;A proper anti-symmetric wave function, containing the interactions of the electrons, is set up. The energy integral and normalizing the integral are found in terms of parameters which enter in the wave function. These parameters are varied until the value of the energy W is a minimum;A method for finding the best values of the parameters by means of simple trial wave functions and direct differentiation is described;Evaluation of an elliptic integral is given in terms of Legendre Polynomials and methods for integrating several troublesome exponential integrals are given;The value of the energy is found within .2 percent of the experimental value. This value could be improved by use of a more complicated wave function and additional parameters. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)