I The atomic Coulomb potential extends to infinity?

aaronll
Messages
23
Reaction score
4
I'm studying nuclear physics in a text, but at one point that is said: "Both the Coulomb potential that binds the atom and the resulting electronic charge distribution extends to infinity" , I don't understand what is that "resulting electronic charge distribution extends to infinity" what they mean? ( maybe I misunderstand the phrase but i don't know)
thanks
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Physics news on Phys.org
aaronll said:
I'm studying nuclear physics in a text, but at one point that is said: "Both the Coulomb potential that binds the atom and the resulting electronic charge distribution extends to infinity" , I don't understand what is that "resulting electronic charge distribution extends to infinity" what they mean? ( maybe I misunderstand the phrase but i don't know)
thanks

I assume by "charge distribution" it means the wave-function for the electron. And, theoretically the spatial wave-function for the electron is non-zero everywhere. I.e. no matter how far the distance from the nucleus, there is still a non-zero probability of detecting the electron there.

In practical terms, of course, the electron probability distribution drops off to nearly zero very quickly - of the order of magnitude of a few times the Bohr radius.
 
  • Like
Likes Lord Jestocost, vanhees71 and aaronll
PeroK said:
I assume by "charge distribution" it means the wave-function for the electron. And, theoretically the spatial wave-function for the electron is non-zero everywhere. I.e. no matter how far the distance from the nucleus, there is still a non-zero probability of detecting the electron there.

In practical terms, of course, the electron probability distribution drops off to nearly zero very quickly - of the order of magnitude of a few times the Bohr radius.
Thank you
 
Which text is this? I guess, I'll like to avoid its use ;-)).
 
vanhees71 said:
Which text is this? I guess, I'll like to avoid its use ;-)).
Is the "Introduction to Nuclear Physics" written by Kennet S. Krane, I believe is a good book
 
Yes, I like it too, but are there really such statements as that the long-ranged nature of the Coulomb potential of the nucleus in an atom were "resulting electronic charge distribution extends to infinity"? That doesn't make sense or at least hints at an pretty unusual interpretation of the (energy-eigen) wave functions of the electron(s) in atoms. It sounds something like Schrödinger's very first interpretation of his ##\psi(t,\vec{x})## before Born's probabilistic interpretation. Even then it's strange since as the hydrogen wave functions show, the bound states all fall exponentially for ##r \rightarrow \infty##, and from that the typical atomic length scales are determined by the Born radius of about ##0.5 \mathring{\text{A}}##.
 
Not an expert in QM. AFAIK, Schrödinger's equation is quite different from the classical wave equation. The former is an equation for the dynamics of the state of a (quantum?) system, the latter is an equation for the dynamics of a (classical) degree of freedom. As a matter of fact, Schrödinger's equation is first order in time derivatives, while the classical wave equation is second order. But, AFAIK, Schrödinger's equation is a wave equation; only its interpretation makes it non-classical...
I am not sure if this falls under classical physics or quantum physics or somewhere else (so feel free to put it in the right section), but is there any micro state of the universe one can think of which if evolved under the current laws of nature, inevitably results in outcomes such as a table levitating? That example is just a random one I decided to choose but I'm really asking about any event that would seem like a "miracle" to the ordinary person (i.e. any event that doesn't seem to...
Back
Top