Does an electron always have a position that we just dont know until we do an experiment or is it a cloud around the nucleus with no definite position? Please do not answer with elementary answers, like copying and pasting info about quantum physics. I want a real answer regarding electron information when we dont observe it.
2006-07-09 11:05:34 · 6 answers · asked by daseinpbc 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Einstein, stop telling god what to do!
2006-07-09 11:17:47 · update #1
I am not sure I like either of the first answers to your question. Both are correct but only partially. Our limited capacity as humans to comprehend such ideas as quantum mechanics forces us to view the electron as both a particle and a wave. This in itself sounds like a cop-out answer to your question. However, I would argue that the electron does have a particular position around the nucleus at any given time but we are unable to observe the position without perturbing the system in a way that makes it impossible to know its actual position after the pertubation. The cloud around the nucleus that you speak of is our way of giving a likely position of the election at any given time. A probability density as you will of the electron to be found in that location. I do humbly submit my understanding of such things is not extensive but this is how I have come to comprehend it.
2006-07-09 11:20:57 · answer #1 · answered by Andrew S 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Much to Einstein's dismay, the electron does not have a position before it is observed. This was a source of disagreement between Albert Einstein and Neils Bohr, but experiments have proven Bohr to be correct.
In 1935, Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen proposed a thought experiment in which the results depend on whether the electron has a position or not before the observation is made. This is now known as the EPR Paradox. In 1964, Bell proposed an actual experiment that could be performed to test the EPR paradox. By the 1980's, experiments were being conducted. To date, every experiment of this type has been consistent with Bohr's "Copenhagen Interpretation" that the electron's position is determined only when it is observed. While not absolutely conclusive (nothing in science is proven absolutely correct), this solid line of evidence has led most scientists to agree that the Copenhagen Interpretation is probably correct.
The Wikipedia article below is a good starting place for this information.
2006-07-09 23:09:09 · answer #2 · answered by not_2_worried 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When we don't actively observe it, an electron behaves like a wave which describes the probability of finding it at any specific point when we make an observation. But until we make the observation, there is no way of knowing where it is. However, an electron does *not* have any definite postion even if no observation occurs. We know this from the effect of quantum tunneling, which shows that there is a finite chance of an electron 'leaking' through a barrier which would block anything which behaved strictly as a particle. Thus, the wave function isn't just an inability to measure, but a innate property of the universe.
2006-07-09 18:14:13 · answer #3 · answered by DakkonA 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
An electron's observable position is both a function of how it was observed as well as when it was observed. So conversely we can conclude that an electron's postion when not being observed must be infinite because you cannot define a finite time frame for an observation that has not occured.
2006-07-09 19:19:40 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The electron appears to have a waveform according to its speed in the shell it is in (s,p,d, and f) and also according to the tilt of axis. There is a short, easy to read paper called "A New Atomic Theory" that is only a page or two long and easy to understand. It is found at http://timebones.blogspot.com
2006-07-09 21:22:10 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
my opinion.
it does not have a definite position when not observed
2006-07-09 18:14:53 · answer #6 · answered by kevin h 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋