Questions tagged [atomic-physics]

Atomic physics is the field of physics that studies atoms as an isolated system of electrons and an atomic nucleus. It is primarily concerned with the arrangement of electrons around the nucleus and the processes by which these arrangements change. This includes ions as well as neutral atoms and, unless otherwise stated, for the purposes of this discussion it should be assumed that the term atom includes ions.

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Varying mass of electron in an atom

Let's take a heavy atom (since velocity of electron is high in it) and project it with relativistic velocity. So the electron revolving around the nucleus in partial particle - wave character can have ...
Le nerd's user avatar
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Ion Traps for "Hot" atoms

I have been researching ion traps (of singular atoms) recently and have become curious about neutral atom trapping and in particular if it is possible to trap neutral atoms while they are "hot&...
Jack's user avatar
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Solar-system model of atom [closed]

Smart people, like us, poo-poo people who think of the atom as a mini solar-system with electrons orbiting the nucleus, like planets. We talk about smeared out probability waves etc. But, given wave-...
john's user avatar
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Why aren't positive ions emitted at the same rate as electrons via thermionic emission?

The Effective Work Functions of the Elements are very similar for removing an electron or a positive ion, e.g. about 4.5 eV for Tungsten. If their work functions are similar, why aren't positive ions ...
David Bailey's user avatar
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Confusion about EM absorption [duplicate]

I have now encountered various explanations on how matter interacts with electromagnetic waves (EM) but it still seems like an unconnected mess. The best way I can demonstrate my questions is with an ...
shar's user avatar
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Is it possible to compress an atom to infinite density? [closed]

I am asking this question because I always wonder what would happen if we had a machine or something that could compress an element to infinite density. This question has been on my mind since I was ...
Rana Hamza's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
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Why does Lamb shift renormalization not affect decay rate?

As a preface, I know there are "more" correct ways to calculate the Lamb shift and decay rate through full blown QED, but this is what's most familiar with me, so I would appreciate an ...
Electric to be's user avatar
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What does the energy of the electron in the energy level of an atom really mean?

I am confused about the meaning of the energy of the electron in the energy level of the atom. How does an electron have a higher energy in a higher energy level and at the same time, it can be ...
Rahal's user avatar
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Physical reason for the diamagnetic behaviour of closed-shell atoms & the free electron gas

We know that atoms with closed shell structure i.e., with $L=S=J=0$, exhibit purely diamagnetic behaviour, known as the Larmor diamagnetism. Using the quantum theory, I can calculate the magnetization ...
Solidification's user avatar
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Can an atom according to Bohr's model be considered a black body?

I recently read about Bohr's atomic model and found out that an atom tends to absorb all the energy of a particular frequency to excite its electron and it also gives the same amount of energy that it ...
V Sruthisree's user avatar
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Why are lithium and beryllium such good conductors but not chlorine?

Why are lithium and beryllium so conductive? The $2s$ band has a much different energy range from the $2p$ band, so I guess the only explanation is that $N$ states are empty. But if that was the case, ...
Root Groves's user avatar
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Why don't we fall through a chair when sitting? [duplicate]

I'm a high school drop out so excuse my grammar. I have done extensive reading in Astronomy and Cosmology, and came across this article With the title "Physicist Are Dumbfounded why we don't fall ...
Genesis1b4's user avatar
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How Quantum Mechanics reconciles with Classical Mechanics?

Imagine we have to charged particles. The kinetic energy of the system is: $$ T = \frac{1}{2}(m_1 + m_2) \mathbf{\dot{R}}_{cm}^2 + \frac{1}{2} \mu \dot{R}^2 + \frac{L^2}{2 \mu R^2} $$ and its ...
Álvaro Rodrigo's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
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$(2L+1)(2S+1)$-fold degeneracy of the energy eigenvalues of many-electron atoms in absence of spin-orbit interaction

In the case of many-electron atoms, the Hamiltonian (neglecting the spin-orbit interaction) is given by $$H=H_c+H_1$$ where $H_c$ is the Hamiltonian in the central field approximation and $H_1$ is the ...
Solidification's user avatar
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Confusion with Hund's rule

Hund's first rule states: The term with the largest possible value of $S$ for a given configuration has the lowest energy. But, in practice, in order the find the ground state, we fill up the ...
Solidification's user avatar
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How does collision of electrons with other atoms generate heat that could result in release of additional electrons?

How is heat generated by collision of electrons with other atoms. Pls explain without going into Joules law and it'd be great if you could provide me with an intuition
Dhyaneshwar's user avatar
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Reverse atomic state population rates in plasma q(i<-j), but in reverse at cold temperatures

I am searching for electron-collision induced depopulation rates for the atomic states of Helium, while it is embedded in a plasma, but from a higher to a lower level, i.e. I want to be following the ...
AtmosphericPrisonEscape's user avatar
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Variation of orbital energy with atomic number

I have come across the statement in an examination that “the energy of a given orbital with the same principal quantum number decreases as the atomic number increases”; but I couldn't understand why. ...
Aspirant29's user avatar
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Predicting atomic dipole transition properties (reference request?)

I am interested in the question of how to predict the strengths of atomic transitions. A quantum 101 approach to solving this problem involves calculating an integral like $$ \int R_{nl}(r)R_{n'l'}(r) ...
Jagerber48's user avatar
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Photoeletric Effect with Flames

Can flames (fire) induce photoeletric effect? I mean, as I know, fire is electrons changing orbital levels, which implies a $\Delta E=hf$ that is a photon being ejected. As it reaches the metal, and ...
Ian Barquette's user avatar
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Moments of hydrogen orbitals/Transition dipole moments

I'm interested in calculating transition dipole elements for atomic transitions. This means I would like to calculate things like $$ r_{nlm,q}^{n'l'm'} = \langle\psi_{nlm}|r_q|\psi_{n'l'm'}\rangle $$ ...
Jagerber48's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
213 views

If we have a beam of photons and a beam of protons with the same energy, which one will get further inside the human body?

If we have a beam of photons (high energy X-ray) and a beam of protons both with the same energy, which one will get further inside the human body and why? Can this be explaind due to LET (Linear ...
Reza Mullaj's user avatar
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1 answer
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Why only Lyman alpha transition suffer Redshift in the epoch of Recombination in Cosmology?

I was reading Baumann's book on cosmology (topic: Effective three level system). There it is said that in the epoch of recombination to form Hydrogen molecule two type of transition happens. $$ 2S \to ...
Kazi Abu Rousan's user avatar
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1 answer
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Could an electron wavefunction wrap multiple times around its orbit?

In the Bohr model a whole number of electron de Broglie waves with $\lambda=h/mv$ fit around an orbit with radius $r$ so that we have: $$2\pi r=n\lambda.$$ But could the electron waves wrap around the ...
John Eastmond's user avatar
1 vote
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Superposition of energy levels

When thinking about a "random" atom in space (say a Hydrogen atom), should I assume that the electron is in a ground state (or any particular excited eigenstate) or is it in a superposition ...
archil kitiashvili's user avatar
-6 votes
4 answers
239 views

Does electron have a temperature in the atom?

Please correct me if I am wrong. Electron is fundamental and is zero dimensional (probably made up of strings). Electron is bound to the nucleus. Electron in an atom has velocity and position which ...
SacrificialEquation's user avatar
1 vote
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Does population inversion in the Dicke model result in the production of a coherent state of the cavity field?

The Dicke model describes the quantum dynamics of $N$ identical two level atoms (with energy seperation $\hbar\omega_{0}$ between the ground and excited energy levels $\{|g\rangle,|e\rangle\}$) each ...
Adrien Amour's user avatar
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Electronic configuration and symmetry labels of 3d$^7$ ions

In 3d$^7$ ions, e.g. Co$^{2+}$, the ground state is $^4$F, and it contains different levels due to the crystal field, such as $^4T_{1g}$, $^4T_{2g}$ and $^4A_{2g}$. Can anyone tell me what exactly ...
Chris Bohr's user avatar
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Excitation and decay of electronic states to dark states

I am interested in modeling the populations of low-lying, long-lived "dark" electronic states after excitation of an atom in the ground state with a laser. Using just a regular rate equation ...
JerEl's user avatar
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Time of relativistic scattering

Consider a scattering collision between a relativistic electron and a Hydrogen atom, which is assumed to be in the ground state. Assume that the electron velocity is comparable to the speed of light $...
MusashiK's user avatar
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Why can we cool one species Fermionic gas in evaporative cooling?

I met a problem in the evaporative cooling of Fermions. If I want to cool Fermionic gas to a very low temperature, I need to let s-wave scattering happen in the evaporative cooling process. However, ...
Hsu Bill's user avatar
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Why doesn't the total energy in Bohr's model of the atom include the energy in the magnetic field of the electron?

When the electron "jumps" from a more energetic state to a less energetic state, its orbital speed increases since its kinetic energy equals $\frac{kZe^2}{2r}$ (where $k$ is Coulomb's ...
Qwertyuiop's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
177 views

$ \hbar^2$ Correction to the Bohr-Sommerfeld Quantization Condition

We can get the Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization from the WKB method as answered. Since we use approximation, there should be an error in the system, I know this is not right all the time; in some ...
Lady Be Good's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
113 views

How to calculate the $d$ orbital energy from Atomic Spectra Database?

I am struggling to understand how to calculate the $d$ orbital energy of the Fe atom. I tried to search the $\text{Fe I}$ in the Atomic Spectra Database, so I thought I could use the energy difference ...
Jack's user avatar
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Casimir effect and lambshift, uncontroversial evidence of the zero point field? (SED)

"By far the most accepted evidence of the reality of the zpf is the Casimir effect, that is, the force between two parallel neutral metallic plates resulting from the modification of the field by ...
Magemathician's user avatar
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1 answer
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How to find the standard atomic orbital energy data?

I found a website that provides the $d$ orbital energy of atoms. The data were found using Photoelectron Spectroscopy, which measures the energy needed to ionize electrons from atoms in the gas phase. ...
2 votes
1 answer
90 views

Why would a hydrogen atom form if proton and electron are left to attract each other, when they are very near? [closed]

In this question the OP asked, if electron and proton ,which are very near to each other,are left to attract in a straight line then what will happen? The answer was that a Hydrogen atom will form. ...
SacrificialEquation's user avatar
4 votes
5 answers
328 views

Why are electron orbitals shaped how they are?

I'm new to quantum physics, but as far as I've understood, electron orbitals are defined as the region where an electron has a 90% probability to be. Unless I'm wrong, every point has some probability ...
Atharv Rao's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
81 views

Strange fine structure splitting of the two-body Dirac equation

This question is a follow-up of the discussion about one of my answers. Marsch proposed a two-body Dirac equation for hydrogen in order to treat the proton recoil effects in a non-perturbative way (...
dennismoore94's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
319 views

Youtube video claims 2023 physics Nobel prize winners proved Heisenberg wrong

This video claims (scroll to 11:22 frame), that inventors/improvers of a unique attosecond pulse generation which enables us to monitor atom dynamics proved that Heisenberg was wrong (citation from ...
Agnius Vasiliauskas's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
41 views

Physcial interpretation of term neglected in Rotating Wave Approximation

Consider an atom as a two-level system $|1\rangle, |2\rangle$ with energy separation $\hbar \omega_0$, which is interacting with a classical electric field $\vec{E}=\vec{E}_0 \cos(\omega t)$. This ...
Welcome_Green's user avatar
2 votes
5 answers
149 views

Bohr model of the atom

According the classical physics, the electron should radiate energy and fall to the nucleus in a short period of time. However, this was not the case. Hence, Bohr proposed his theory, suggesting that ...
Quin Gardiner Bax's user avatar
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Why is a singlet state potential greater than triplet state potential in the Feshbach resonance experiment?

I googled the Feshbach resonance in the Wikipedia and I have some problems. In German Wikipedia, they consider Li-6 molecule as an example. For these two different spin configurations(singlet and ...
Hsu Bill's user avatar
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0 answers
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Atom Interferometer Contrast

I have made a simulation of a Raman beam based atom interferometer in a Mach-Zehnder configuration. In this way, the electronic state of the atom changes as well as the momentum when diffraction by ...
jamie1989's user avatar
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Mass to energy in nuclear reaction

According to my understanding we get a lot of energy during nuclear reaction because mass transforms to energy. According to picture below total mass remains the same after reaction. Is the picture ...
vico's user avatar
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How long does it take for a $\rm CO_2$ molecule close to the surface of the Earth to reemit an absorbed terrestial infrared quant after absorption?

In the theory of climate change a special position is reserved for $\rm CO_2$. In this theory $\rm CO_2$ molecules are absorbing infrared quants emitted by the surface of the Earth. These quants are ...
Hans Haarman's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
90 views

Why sodium ion is able to atract negative charges? [closed]

Why is the sodium ion able to attract negative charges? even though it has 1 excess proton, its electrosphere is further away than the nucleus, wouldn't it be possible to counterbalance the effect of ...
Gabriel Rocha Furtado's user avatar
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1 answer
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Refraction of sound atomic level

how the refraction of sound and the change in the angle of propagation can be explained at the atomic level, why the direction of propagation of molecules changes in different media?
Gabriel Rocha Furtado's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
1k views

How is the proton accounted for in the relativistic solution of the hydrogen atom?

In the non-relativistic limit, the Schrodinger equation for the hydrogen atom can be solved using reduced mass techniques to account for the motion of both the electron and proton. I am wondering if a ...
Ghorbalchov's user avatar
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Dependency of Stark effect on Quantum numbers

I have read many sources which tell me that the Stark and Zeeman effects, which Bohr's theory had trouble explaining, were explained by the introduction of the magnetic quantum number. But doesn't ...
Neelansh Goyal's user avatar

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