Understanding Nuclear Fusion and the Role of Photons in Energy Production

In summary: Carbon-Neutral Oxygen... fusion process. But it's not really relevant to our question. In summary, the nuclear fusion process creates elements from hydrogen. Protium is made of one electron, one proton, and one neutron. Two protons will fuse to create deuterium, and two deuterium nuclei will fuse to create He-3. He-3 will then fuse with a proton to form He-4.
  • #36
edguy99 said:
As I understand it, there is a "lowest" energy level in an atom. Take a Hydrogen atom that is ineffect, 1 proton. The lowest energy level is -13.6 EVolts and that in the Bohr model occurs at 52.9 Picometers from the proton center. An electron inside this "shell" is "who knows where", but if you want to get it completely out, you need to apply 13.6 Evolts of energy.

If a passing (free) electron happens to run into a passing proton and drops into this level and is in effect "trapped" by the proton in this energy level, it will emit a photon of 13.6 Evolts of energy and the proton/electron will act as a unit with the electron "stuck??" to the proton.

The electron cannot "drop" to a lower level as this is the lowest one that exists for Hydrogen.

I do not know if this is worded quite right, but I am happy to see how this is better stated.

Regards

Yes, this is about right. What's not so exact, is that you give a precise "distance" (52.9 pm) between both, as in fact the electron's a "cloudy beast" on that scale, and the 52.9 pm is in fact the average distance on which one would find the electron if one were to measure its distance. But that's nitpicking. You're essentially right.

In relationship to the OP, it is the emission of the 13.6 eV photon that makes that the couple electron-proton is now bound, because in order to be free again, it misses 13.6 eV. And it turns out that such a bound system has a smaller overall mass than the mass of its constituents, by exactly the mass equivalent of 13.6 eV. But one cannot say that "the electron got lighter" or "the proton got lighter". It's the fact that they make up a bound system that makes that the mass of the whole is not equal to the mass of the constituents.
 
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  • #37
vanesch said:
Yes, this is about right. What's not so exact, is that you give a precise "distance" (52.9 pm) between both, as in fact the electron's a "cloudy beast" on that scale, and the 52.9 pm is in fact the average distance on which one would find the electron if one were to measure its distance. But that's nitpicking. You're essentially right.

You are right. Perhaps "the electron will get stuck pretty much within 52.9 pm, basically the size of the 1s1 orbital for Hydrogen" is better?
 

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