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To: Jolla

At 0K, electrons stop orbiting the nucleus..................


76 posted on 06/19/2025 5:28:02 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Red Badger

Electrons don’t actually orbit the nucleus. That is a classical model and a simplistic description based on classical physics. It is in fact impossible as a description, even in classical physics since electronically charged particles traveling in orbits would lose energy via electromagnetic radiation and spiral into the nucleus. This in fact was one of the main drivers toward quantum mechanics (along with the inability of classical physics to describe black body radiation and the photoelectric effect).

In quantum mechanics we lose the idea of a particle following an orbit. We simply cannot see such a thing at small scales. The electron is actually a de localized standing wave when bound in an atom. The energy of this wave has nothing to do with temperature. It can only take on discrete values (although thermal agitation can excite the electron to a higher energy state). Even at absolute zero the electron is in its ground state and has a certain energy that is independent of the thermal energy of the system


85 posted on 06/19/2025 10:30:16 AM PDT by stremba
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