ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Koopmans' theorem

Hello little one,

Koopmans' theorem is kind of like a magic trick that helps scientists better understand how atoms work.

You know how all things are made up of tiny building blocks called "atoms"? Well, each atom has a bunch of different parts inside of it, like electrons and protons. Scientists like to study these parts to learn more about how atoms behave and interact with each other.

One of the things that scientists want to know is how hard it is to take one of these electrons out of an atom. This is called the "ionization energy" of the electron.

Koopmans' theorem says that you can figure out the ionization energy of an electron in an atom just by looking at a specific part of the electron's energy. This is really cool because it makes it much easier for scientists to figure out how atoms work without having to do a bunch of tricky experiments.

So, basically, Koopmans' theorem helps scientists learn more about atoms and how they work by telling them how much energy is needed to take an electron out of an atom. It's like peeking behind the curtain and understanding how a magic trick works!