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Why don't electrons and protons collide?

Hydrogen atoms are often ionized. After ionization, it is divided into electrons and protons, which can merge into hydrogen atoms at any time.

Why don't electrons crash on protons?

According to Coulomb's law, when they are getting closer, they attract more and more. One of the most possible choices is to crash.

This is not a duplicated question. Because instead of talking about the structure of atoms (why electrons don't crash nuclei), we're talking about why they don't merge together because of the Coulomb attraction when electrons are close to protons.

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If we discard the radiation problem(accelerated electron have to radiate and lose his energy), so electron does not crash on proton by the same reason the Earth does not crash on the Sun. And for the Earth, it does not crash on the Sun because it has an angular momentum and it always "slips past" the Sun.

Remark: Yes, of course classical physics can not explain stability of the atom, but the reason is not/(not so much) in Coulomb’s law but in the classical mechanics itself. I meant, that if the problem was only in Coulomb’s law then the same reasonings we could apply to the stability of the Solar system.

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  • $\begingroup$ The earth in the solar system will not leave the sun, it has been circling, gravity as a centripetal force. Atoms disintegrate and recombine at any time. They are not the same. If the solar system disintegrates and reassembles, the earth will hit the sun. Numerous craters on the moon are examples. $\endgroup$
    – Cang Ye
    Commented Jul 10, 2019 at 23:56
  • $\begingroup$ This answer is rather incorrect. If protons and electrons were little charged balls that obeyed classical electromagnetism, the orbiting electron would continually emit electromagnetic radiation due to acceleration, thus losing energy and angular momentum. The electron would eventually collide. This doesn't happen. The Bohr model, which says electrons don't do that but instead can only make quantum leaps also doesn't work. The right answer lies in the answers to the linked questions. $\endgroup$
    – David Hammen
    Commented Jul 11, 2019 at 0:25
  • $\begingroup$ Solar system is not so disintegrated because it is rather closed(in energetic meaning) and planets has not enough energy to leave it. But atoms often interacts with each other and outer systems, and sometimes as a result of the interaction electron can get enough energy for ionization $\endgroup$
    – Leiba Goldstein
    Commented Jul 11, 2019 at 1:04
  • $\begingroup$ Electrons leave the proton. When it returns, what makes sure it doesn't hit the proton? According to Coulomb's law, it is 99.9% likely to collide. $\endgroup$
    – Cang Ye
    Commented Jul 11, 2019 at 2:12

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