Why is it accepted that...?

Question

electrons orbit the nucleus of an atom?
protons are bound together in the nucleus?
neutrons are some mysterious device for nuclear reactions and not an active part of the structure of the atom?

The strong and weak nuclear forces that are needed in this model violate physical laws! Doesn't that bother anybody?

The strong and weak nuclear forces have no influence outside the nucleus of the atom, all other forces influence extends to infinity.

Answer 1

I need to comment a bit on Michael Gmirkin's response. Gravity has nothing to do with atomic physics -- the forces are too small, by 40 orders of magnitude. A brief recap of the physics involved:
- Although the nucleus is composed of protons and (usually) neutrons, the particles don't have separate physical identities in the nucleus: they are described by wave functions which fall to zero rapidly outside the nucleus but are non-zero anywhere inside. They are held together by what is called the "strong force"; although mathematics can be done on models of the force, it is not well understood. (It probably relates to the even smaller particles called quarks, which are constituents of protons and neutrons. There are very strong forces between quarks.)
The electrons are said to orbit the nucleus, but it is not at all the same idea as a planet orbiting the sun. The principles relevant here are:
- The Fermi exclusion principle, which says that no two electrons can be in exactly the same state. So, if you are throwing electrons at a newly created nucleus, you will fill up the higher energy states, and the progressively lower, until the number of electrons equals the nuclear charge and no more will stick.
- The Heisenberg uncertainty principle, which says that there are pairs of quantities, such as position and momentum, that cannot both be observed with arbitrary precision, but that the product of the uncertainties in the measurements of such a pair of quantities with respect to any particle cannot be less than a certain small constant. The constant is called Planck's constant, and is denoted by the letter h. In the mathematics of physics, the quantity h divided by two pi shows up so often that it has been given a symbol of its own: the letter h with a hyphen overlaying it. (The symbol is called h-bar.) What this has to do with electrons is that you can't see that the electron is in any specific place as part of the atom -- one can calculate the probability that it may be found within any particular small space, but not certainty. This means it can be found anywhere within the particular orbital that it occupies.

Answer 2

Well, I asked a similar question a few hours ago.

Please elaborate on what laws the strong and weak forces purportedly violate. Hard to answer when you're not specific.

My understanding was essentially that protons sink into the nucleus of the atom due to their larger mass relative to the mass of the electron. Thus larger attraction between them due to gravity. But they're kept spaced by the stronger electrical repulsive force (IE like charges repel other like charges). Since they're morse dense, they sink to the center. Whereas electron have high energy but low mass and an opposite charge to the protons (thus via their charge and their gravity they're attracted to the protons, but they're much more energetic and much lighter, so they tend to stratify into layers around the nucleus based on how energetic they are). One could think of it like density and buoyancy. Less dense things tend to rise where as more dense things tend to sink toward the center of gravity. Ot the more densely packed things tend to move past and around the less tightly packed things simply cause the less tightly packed things have more space between them.

Though I'm not entirely sure what keeps the electrons from zipping into the nucleus, if they somehow happened to be heading in that direction with sufficient speed/velocity? Maybe someone else can answer that. What is the force that repels the electrons from the nucleus?? Since the neutrons are neutral and the protons are the opposite charge and SHOULD attract the electrons if there's nothing else acting to stop this...?? I mean protons repel each other, sure, but they should attract the electrons...

But I'm still not a complete physics junkie yet, so I don't know if this is sufficient. We might be in the same boat. ;o)

Answer 3

The current atomic model is accepted because of a series of scientific theories and experiments that have validated the line of thought. J.J. Thompson discovered the electron in his work with cathode rays. Ernest Rutherford found that electrons orbit a nucleus composed of protons and neutrons. Bohr, Heisenberg, Einstein and others incorporated elements of quantum mechanics into the model. For direct proof of the atomic model, see the link below.

Answer 4

There are four main physics laws the two you mentioned that apply to molecules, gravity, and something else I forget. The molecules don't interact the way they should with gravity, it is verry odd. Scientists have been working on this for quite some thime. The theory you are looking for is called the theory of everything. Einstine spent 20 years working on it and now Stephen Hawking is trying his luck. There is some other force in action that is yet to be explained. The theory of Everything will spell it all out.

Answer 5

I'm Alchemy today!I say if the proton is the energy source of the atom then the neutron is the lens and mirror that turns a confluence of forces in to an electron.(proton,anti proton arc gap jumping across core)

Answer 6

Nuetrons aren't mysterious. They are subatomic particles with no charge. How do they violate physics?

It's the loss of nuetrons within an atom which initiates the nuclear chain reactions inside nuclear power reactors and nuclear weapons.

Answer 7

1

Answer 8

Just a theory. No one has every "seen" subatomic particles. No one knows how the matter that makes up the universe is actually put together. We just make guesses, and suppositions based on our guesses, and then suppositions based on our suppositions.
Try "string theory" if quantum mechanics is not your bag.

Answer 9

Thousands of Partcle Physicists and hundreds of thousands of repeatable particle phyics experiments can't be wrong.

You need more study in this area....

Answer 10

how does that violate the laws of physics?