Questions tagged [atoms]
A nucleus made of protons and neutrons surrounded by a cloud of electrons equal in number to the protons.
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Why do particles vibrate?
It seems like all molecules vibrate and they vibrate more when heat is added. Why do they vibrate in the first place? And why does adding heat to a system make its molecules vibrate more? What are the ...
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How are atoms split into subatomic particles? [closed]
How are atoms split into subatomic particles such as neutrons, protons or electrons? And I mean in the practical sense, not just theoretically
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How should we think about excited electron states?
Consider an atom of your choice. I wanted to have a way of organizing all of its electron excited states into some kind of mathematical structure, that was a sufficiently generic framework that the ...
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1answer
51 views
What happens when an object has the same de Broglie wavelength as the size of an object?
This is confusing me so much, we learned in class that to study the structure of nucleons, a lot of energy is required and this is to give a smaller de Broglie wavelength which is for some reason a ...
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4answers
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Can two atoms collide inelastically?
Suppose I have an atom A (of mass $m$) moving randomly with some velocity $v$ in free space. Now suppose there is one more similar atom B but moving with a different velocity (smaller than $v$) on the ...
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1answer
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What wavelength is emitted by an electron that is returning to ground state, and how does this affect the color of a material?
I recently learned that gold gets its yellow color because electrons in the 5d orbital absorb 'blue' photons and transition to the 6s orbital. The drop in the blue end of the visual spectrum makes the ...
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1answer
38 views
Pauli exclusion principle for $H_{2}$
We know that depending on whether their spins are parallel or antiparallel, two electrons (each with spin ½) can combine to give a total spin of $1$ (parallel)or $0$ (antiparallel). But only one of ...
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What are the axes in the structure of an atom?
When learning about the structure of atoms, I learnt that there are orbitals oriented along certain axes. What does it mean to be oriented along the axes? What is the reference? Also, when learning ...
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Is $1s2s$ state an upper bound of Helium excited states? [closed]
Generally people says that the state $1s(1)2s(1)$ $ ^1S$ is an excited state of Helium atom . Variation theorem guaranties that the expectation value of this state is greater than the ground state, ...
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1answer
60 views
What would happen if you tried to use oil as fuel in a fusion reactor? [closed]
At first, this question seemed silly, but there might be some sense to it. OpenAI's GPT algorithm suggested to me that using oil in fusion technology could be a breakthrough. I thought about it for ...
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1answer
23 views
Why do molecules form band spectrum?
If we observe any textbook they say that molecules form band spectrum. But a H2 molecule is just 2 H atoms and both form line spectra but somehow combination of 2 H atoms formed band spectrum. Because ...
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1answer
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Can we feel the electrons which move from one object to other during rubbing which caused charge?
I am new to the world of electricity and magnetism. And still learning the basics of it. As I was studying about transfer of electrons I got the following doubts
(1) Can I feel the electrons which ...
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The depicted shape of subatomic particles
I physics books and such, I understand why they show atoms as spheres because they have the electron cloud. But why are protons, neutrons, and electrons spheres? I guess people say that because of ...
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How to search for an atom electric dipole moment
I read some papers about searching for induced atomic EDM. Finding such an EDM would imply a violation of the P and T-invariance (and hence CP). The way the derivation works (very roughly) is by ...
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What problem excatly did Sommerfield solve in his atomic model and how?
I am curious to know what problem did Sommerfield solve in his atomic model and how does his atomic model solve it? Most books say it solved the problem of splitting of lines but what excatly does it ...
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Can an alpha particle (or any charged particle) can penetrate through nucleus of gold atom?
Can an alpha particle (or any charged particle) can penetrate through nucleus of gold (or any other) atom ?
Today I was watching a lecture on the "Estimation of Size of Nucleus" which was a ...
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2answers
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Which of the four fundamental forces is responsible for covalent bonds? [duplicate]
Molecules are the result of covalent bonds forming between atoms.
Which of the four fundamental forces is responsible for covalent bonding?
(Sorry if this is basic -- I'm guessing electromagnetic, but ...
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1answer
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Metallic bonds get weaker during electrostatic induction?
If the cations are held together by the sea of electrons (metallic bonding), and if we apply electrostatic induction then what happens to the region of atoms that have a deficit of electrons? Are ...
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1answer
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Protons and neutrons are subatomic particles that affect the mass of an atom. What would be a heavy particle and what would be a light particle? [closed]
An atom consists of 3 parts: Protons, neutrons, electrons. Protons and neutrons go to the center to make up the nucleus, while the electrons go to the outside in the electron cloud. Of the three ...
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How is it that for a closed subshell configuration $L=S=0$?
For a closed subshell configuration of a many-electron atom, $M_L=\sum_i m_{\ell_i}=0$ and $M_S=\sum_i m_{s_i}=0$. But I do not understand why does it necessarily mean $L=S=0$. The values $M_L=M_S=0$ ...
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1answer
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Why ray goes down when applied a magnetic force between it in the JJ Thompson experiment?
I have a question! I was learning about JJ Thomson's Cathode Ray Tube experiment and I understand why the ray goes up when it passes through a Wien's filter, but I cannot plenty understand why it goes ...
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1answer
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Proton as viewed from an orbiting electron's perspective
When I see depictions of the electron orbital of a hydrogen atom, I see a static proton in the center surrounded by an electron cloud. What would it look like if we shifted the reference frame to the ...
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What makes atoms stick together? [closed]
I just need help finding out what makes them stick together. I tried looking here and I found why they stick but not how.
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Radiation emitted by electrons and protons [closed]
Do protons and electrons lose energy due to radiation?
Which one loses more energy, and why?
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1answer
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Is it possible to make hibrid atoms? [closed]
Is it possible to make an atom which is half matter and half antimatter (mostly meaning that it's particles are equaled) ? And if it would be possible, how this atom would behave comparably with its ...
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Is Slater's list of atomic radii still state of the art?
The wikipedia page for atomic radius shows two periodic tables for the atomic radius https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_radius
One was published by slater in 1964, the other by Clementi in 1967. I ...
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Why is the mean density the same for all nuclei? Tell me if this is a correct theory?
So the radius $R$ of the nucleus is directly proportional to $A^{1/3}$ (the nucleon number).
As $$V = \frac 43 \pi r^3,$$ this makes $V$ directly proportional to $R^2$. Also, as the nucleon number ...
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2answers
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Why using the word electron for both a free particle and a part of an atom?
This questions stems from Anna's answer here:
https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/578929/230132
Quoting her, she says an electron bound to a nucleus is not a quantum entity, the entire atom is. And ...
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What is the difference between atoms, particles and matter?
So I'm in year 10 (9th grade for the Americans) and I just had a question about physics.
What is the difference between atoms, particles and matter?
Are they all the same thing and people just use the ...
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Entropy in a system constitute by an atom and a photon
Suppose that we have an atom $A$ in an excited state. This atom has a probability of emitting a photon $\gamma$. If we are in a finite space there is a probability that the atom $A$ absorbs the ...
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2answers
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Will an absorbed photon always be re-emitted with a different wavelength? [closed]
And if this is the case, what is the reason that the re-emitted photon (when the electron moves from an orbit to a further orbit) has a different wavelength than its wavelength when it was received?
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Electronic distribution in shells or orbits
I have read on many websites about the Bohr's model of atom but I couldn't find the reason or prove for why can there be more than one electrons in an orbit or counterproof for one electron in each ...
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1answer
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Why do atoms absorb photons at specific wavelengths and reflect photons at wavelengths other than the absorbed photons?
As we already know that the electron emits light photons when it travels from one orbit to another, and that causes this transition is the electron absorption of the incoming photon. But when the ...
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How virtual particles affect the moving of electrons?
We know that empty space is not really empty, but
there are virtual particle pairs of electrons and positrons that are constantly generated and annihilated.
We also know that in an atom, there is ...
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0answers
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Rutherford scattering experiment, part 2
This question is a continuation of my previous question Rutherford scattering experiment, part 1 , but can be considered independently.
Around 1906-1914 several classical experiments on scattering of $...
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1answer
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Rutherford scattering experiment, part 1
Around 1906-1914 several classical experiments on scattering of $\alpha$-particles on gold and platinum foils have been performed by Rutherford, Geiger, and Marsden. In standard literature on the ...
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2answers
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Atom kinetic energy transfer
So according to physics laws, energy can't be created or destroyed but transformed from one form to another. But what happens when an atom flows with certain velocity and is stopped by other atom's ...
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How would an Atom behave in vacuum?
Let's say I put, for example, a Hydrogen atom in vacuum where no external energies have impact on it. Would it just "sit" and exist? Or would it move around? If so, by what force?
If some ...
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1answer
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Why are atomic nuclei protons and neutrons, and not electrons and neutrons or protons and neutrons
Wouldn't proton-electron nuclei be more stable since they attract each other and aren't just neutral to each other? What is the reason for this? I tried searching for an answer but couldn't find ...
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How to calculate electronegativity for an atom?
So there is Pauling electronegativity scale, but thous are constants based on experiments, right? Another way is Allred-Rochow method, but it has rumors being a bit imprecise comparing to real ...
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How the electrostatic energy of attraction is minimum in the ground state of an atom?
In the definition of the ground state of an atom, it is given that
The ground state is one in which the electrostatic energy of
attraction is minimum. This state is called the ground state of the
...
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1answer
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Does an electron in an orbital have exactly the same energy as the orbital's shell?
Solving the Schrödinger equation gives a wave function for each electron in an atom of any element. The wave functions under the atom can be squared to yield probability distribution maps, or orbitals,...
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Does electron orbital theory contradict the Heisenberg uncertainty principle?
The quantum-mechanical model of atoms was derived from Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, which states that the position and momentum of a particle cannot both be determined to an arbitrary degree of ...
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1answer
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Calculating how long would an atom live if Rutherford's model were correct
How to calculate the time it would take for a hydrogen atom to collapse if Rutherford's model were correct? I tried using the relation between power (Larmor formula) and energy but I can't seem to get ...
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2answers
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Covalent bonding vs Ionic bonding
Why some atoms do ionic bonding (electron gain/lose) over covalent bonding (sharing electrons). Are there some rules/theories which explain that?
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3answers
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Atom charge forces and ionic bounding [duplicate]
Why do electrons form shells/clouds around nucleus? If electron is negative charge and protons in nucleus are positive they should attract each other and as a end result stick in one place?
Second ...
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3answers
126 views
How does an electron move around as a wave in orbitals?
This question arose when I was told that there were positive and negative lobes in an orbital. I wanted to know on what basis this was proposed and hence I searched it on web and found out that it ...
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1answer
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Is there such thing as well defined physics and math for atomic interactions?
We have a lot of good Newtonian physics simulation software out there (Bullet, PhysX, Havok, etc.), but I see none good for simulating atomic interactions (going deeper). I like to build one for ...
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1answer
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When the excess electrons move to equalise themselves in a negatively charged conductor, can it result in positively charged atoms?
i am a beginner in physics and am currently studying electrical engineering. I was wondering when the excess electrons move to equalize themselves, can it result in some atoms being positively charged ...
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Could we edit the atomic structure of an atom
Could we in theory change atoms on an atomic level (Think 5 protons, 5 neutrons -> 4 protons, 4 neutrons), and if so could we then use those protons, and neutrons to add to another atom? (3 protons,...
