Assuming that the energy required for this is obtained from the ambient heat, is it true that:
1) matter (perhaps to a limited extent, but still) has a cooling effect on the environment, and
2) at absolute zero that electrons can no longer keep spinning (for lack of the necessary heat energy) and consequently start to “stick” to the atomic nucleus (positively charged atomic nucleus attracts the negatively charged electrons)?
Answer
Hello Dirk,
Why do you assume that energy is expended while the electron revolves around the atomic nucleus?
Our current understanding of the electronic structure of atoms is based on quantum mechanics. According to these insights (which have been confirmed with incredible accuracy in many experiments), an atom has certain energy levels. The energy of the atom can therefore only assume certain values.
It is also important that there is a so-called “ground state”; in this state, the energy of the atom is the smallest possible. The atom can no longer give off energy to the environment. And so no energy is needed to make the atom rotate further around the nucleus. At the atomic level, there is no such thing as friction.
Even in this ground state, the electron does not stand still and continues to revolve around the nucleus. Even at absolute zero.
Greetings,
Philippe
Answered by
Prof. dr. Dr Philippe Tassin
applied physics; optics; photonics; physics
Pleinlaan 2 1050 Ixelles
http://www.vub.ac.be/
.