Electron Movement: Reasons for Revolution Around Atom

[Seniour Baloc]

What is the reason for revolution of electrons around the Atom?

 

[rexol]

the reason is electrostatic force of attraction.

u need to check quantum physics and the theories B4 that to actually start imagining.

 

[Borek]

Electrons don't revolve around the atom. In the early atom models (Bohr) they were assumed to revolve around nucleus. But we know it is not true for almost 90 years.

 

[Seniour Baloc]

the reason is electrostatic force of attraction.

u need to check quantum physics and the theories B4 that to actually start imagining.

Electrostatic force could only hold them within the atom but don't cause their revolutionary movement.

 

[Borek]

Electrostatic force could only hold them within the atom but don't cause their revolutionary movement.

First, they don't revolve, so it doesn't matter.

Second, you are wrong - in classical systems electrostatic forces would work just like gravitation does in the planetary system. Gravitation is the only real force that is present in planetary systems, and in such systems planets do revolve around the central body.

 

[harjot singh]

If one describes atoms using only the Coulomb forces, the electron and the nucleus will attract each other and no stable atoms could exist. Obviously this is not the case. Niels Bohr was the first (1913) to propose a better model, which consisted of electrons moving around the nucleus in circular orbits. Each orbit corresponds to a certain discrete energy level. This model is based upon the quantisation of the angular momentum.

Unfortunately, electrons moving in a circular orbit have an acceleration due to the centripetal force. In classical electromagnetic theory, an accelerated charged particle must emit EM-radiation due to energy conservation. Hence, the electron would lose energy and spiral down towards the nucleus. Again stable atoms could not exist. What is wrong now?

It turns out that the picture of electrons moving in circular orbits around the nucleus isn’t correct either(*). The solution here is the implementation of Quantum Mechanics via the Schrödinger Equation and the concept of wavefunction. By applying such formalism, the “electron” occupies a volume of space simultaneously, so that it is “smeared” in a particular geometry around the nucleus. While there are no more “orbits”, we do use the term “orbitals” to indicate the shape of such geometry. However, this term should not be confused to mean an orbiting electron similar to our planets in the solar system. By describing the system in terms of the QM wavefunction, it creates stable states for the nucleus+electrons system that matches very well with experimental observation of standard atomic spectra.

Since there are no more “orbits” in the conventional sense, the problem of electrons radiating due to an accelerated motion is no longer meaningful. It explains why we have stable atoms.