Relationship between EMF and distance between the particles

werunom
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Hello.

One doubt.
How is the distance between the charged particles and the EMF between them get balanced out? That is, if I have a proton and electron, they attract each other, move towards each other and form a H atom. But going by this attractive force, they should approach each other such that the distance between them tends to be zero. And if this is the case, EMF would become infinite.
Since that doesn't happen, how the electron and the proton maintain & balance the distance between them?
 
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The fail of the Rutherford's H-atom's model has been extensively discussed on these forums along the years. Use the search option to find the threads. In short, the electron and the proton are not to be seen nor mathematically described as 2 small electrically charged spheres with charges of opposite sign.

Quantum mechanics provides an exact description of the H-atom.
 
werunom said:
Hello.

One doubt.
How is the distance between the charged particles and the EMF between them get balanced out? That is, if I have a proton and electron, they attract each other, move towards each other and form a H atom. But going by this attractive force, they should approach each other such that the distance between them tends to be zero. And if this is the case, EMF would become infinite.
Since that doesn't happen, how the electron and the proton maintain & balance the distance between them?

Please start by reading the FAQ thread in the General Physics forum. This is also not a "high energy physics" or "nuclear physics" question. This thread will be moved to a more appropriate forum.

Furthermore, you may want to spell out clearly what "EMF" stands for within the context of your usage. Please note that "EMF" as commonly used stands for "electromotive force".

Zz.
 
@ZapperZ - Excuse. Will take care from future.

@bigubau - I searched this forum and tried even google; but no luck! Though, I got links related to Rutherford's model and its drawback, I am not able to find the answer to my question.
can you please point me to the resource or mention the reason in brief? I can pick up the trail from there.
Edited -
Paraphrasing my doubt - how the distance between two charged particles get balanced out? As we know, electromagnetic force [EMF] is of infinite range - it just becomes weaker, but not zero. So, if there is an electron and a proton, both would get attracted towards each other. but it never happens that the distance between them becomes zero.
If that is the case, and EMF = (the product of the charges)/(the distance between the charges), the only thing fixed is the product of the charges. The EMF and (the distance between the charges) will have to balance out.
So...how this balancing act happens?

Thanks for your help.
 
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Insights auto threads is broken atm, so I'm manually creating these for new Insight articles. Towards the end of the first lecture for the Qiskit Global Summer School 2025, Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Olivia Lanes (Global Lead, Content and Education IBM) stated... Source: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/quantum-entanglement-is-a-kinematic-fact-not-a-dynamical-effect/ by @RUTA
If we release an electron around a positively charged sphere, the initial state of electron is a linear combination of Hydrogen-like states. According to quantum mechanics, evolution of time would not change this initial state because the potential is time independent. However, classically we expect the electron to collide with the sphere. So, it seems that the quantum and classics predict different behaviours!
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