Is work done when an electron completes one revolution around nucleus?

Answer 1

No work is not done when a electron completes a complete revolution around the nucleus because work done by the centripetal force is zero in all cases

Answer 2

No. If work were done, the electron could not stay at constant distance. But there is a misconception in the question -- electrons don't revolve around the nucleus, as planets do around the sun -- they just sort of hang out in the neighborhood. This is a consequence of the uncertainty principle, which says that you cannot measure certain pairs of properties together with arbitrarily good precision. Position and momentum are one such pair; and the implication is that you cannot say that the electron is at a specific place at a specific time: if you go looking for it, there is a calculable probability that you will find it in a particular small region, but no certainty.

Answer 3

Let me clarify. Firstly, electrons DO HAVE MASS. However, the easiest way to explain this is as follows. IF electrons did work, they would lose energy since "work" is really a measure of energy transfer. If electrons lose energy, theyd slowly spin into the nucleus, and the universe would collapse. Since (hopefully) the universe hasnt collapsed by the time you read this, Electrons do not do work when orbiting a nucleus

Answer 4

Certainly for the simplest case of a negatively charged electron orbiting a positive nucleus in a circular orbit the electrostatic force is always normal to the velocity, so no work can be done.

There is probably a simple symmetry argument that the same is true for elliptical orbits.

The interesting part, though, is that Maxwell's equations tell us that any ACCELERATED electric charge radiates electromagnetic energy.

An orbiting electron is constantly changing direction- i.e. accelerating.

That was the conundrum facing Neils Bohr trying to make sense of Rutherford's atomic model in light of Maxwell's work.

It is the energy that should be lost to radiation, not mechanical work, that gave rise to the Bohr atomic model and quantum theory.

Answer 5

Work = Force x Distance
So during one revolution an electron certainly covers a distance... and as force is required to cover a distance so force is also there....
so it is true that work is done when an electron revloves around the nucleus

Answer 6

I don't believe so. My reason for this belief is that as the electron exists in different locations around the nucleus (lets think quantumly here) the potential energy of the electron is not changing since its not emitting light. Thus, no energy being spent = no work done. If work was being done, then every electron would be tumbling towards their respective nucleii and that would be a problem for us :)

Answer 7

The electron exists more like a cloud around the proton, being in all places at once. When electricity flows along a string of atoms the cloud must burst as a balloon for the electron to move along the circuit. This is when work is done.

Answer 8

Electrons don't revolve around the nucleus.
They are standing waves.

"All attempts to measure the radius of the electron have failed! All we know is that the radius is less than 10-18 m; that is, its radius is one hundred million times smaller than that of the atom. All the known properties of the electron are consistent with the assumption that its radius is zero. As far as we know, the electron has no structure"

Answer 9

Im sure there is a more sophisticated explaination, but the simple one is: If the electron returns to the same exact spot it started, the total work done will always be zero!

Answer 10

An electron neither gains nor loses its energy while revolving round the nucleus.No work is done.