Is electron's orbit circular(planar) or spherical(3d) ?

Question

1. Is electron's orbit circular(planar) or spherical(3d) ?
2. What is the relative size of electron to the nucleus(1 proton+1 neutron)?
3. Can anyone give pointer to the best photograph ever taken of an atom(hydrogen to uranium any atoms would do...)

Answer 1

Well, see, there's a funny thing about electrons in their orbitals. For a long time, scientists used to think that electrons orbited the nucleus of the atom, like our planets orbit the solar system. Today, this idea is still widely held among the public. It's easy to picture it that way, but...


...that way is inherently flawed. In all actuality, electrons don't orbit like planets around the Sun.

Instead, it's more like the layers of an onion. The middle is where the nucleus of the atom resides, and the electrons orbit a few "layers" around this nucleus. Now, these "layers" are called 'electron clouds,' and they represent the wavefunction of the orbiting electrons. Now, you think, "What the heck are wavefunctions, and what do they have to do with electrons?"

Well, these clouds aren't really clouds, in the sense that you and I know - you can't see them. In reality, they're just regions where the electron is *likely* to be at any given point. Remember what Heisenberg said? He said that there is no way to tell EXACTLY where a particle is and EXACTLY how fast it's going - the more accurately you measure one of the variables, the less accurate the measurement for the other variable will be. Now, for the really crazy things about electrons in their orbitals:

Until we try to measure an electron's position and/or velocity, that electron is simultaneously everywhere and nowhere within that 'electron cloud.'

That's right. Electrons in their clouds are *everywhere* and *nowhere* at the same time. Not until we try to measure them do we find them. Now, this cloud that they're in is a cloud of probability - the area they're most likely to be found. However, before we measure them, they're just a wavefunction - not really a particle, per say. But, when we measure them, we collapse their wavefunction, and the particle appears. HOW COOL is THAT?

Here's something else that's kinda nifty - an electron cannot exist in the region between electron clouds. That is, they don't just drift from one cloud to another. They go from one, right to the other - and they do so seemingly instantaneously. There's no time spent "in the middle." And, that defies physics.

Hope this helps! At least, a little bit.

Answer 2

1. I'd have to say neither myself since the electrons orbit a nucleus as a particle or a wave, depending on how close you are observing the system at. Since electrons have wave-particle duality to them, their orbitals are represented as probability clouds (due to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle.)
2. Not sure if you mean by size but in terms of a mass 1836 electrons is approximately the mass of a single proton. The number is a little higher for a neutron.
3. You may want to try to find some SEM photographs since those are the closest to a picture of an actual atom. These photos would typically just show you random bumps which are the atoms themselves but with their electron density around them. (just google for some).

Answer 3

1. Electrons do not orbit the nucleus. They are bound in the potential energy well of the positively charged nuclues and basically forms a probability cloud. This cloud is often called an orbital for historic reasons, and has a shape that is determined by solving the Schroedinger wave equation for the atom. Different electrons in multielectgron atoms have different orbital, because of the Pauli exclusion principle.

2. Electrons are believed to be point particles. The nucleus does not behave like a "billiard ball" so assigning it a size is not totally meaningful, but its effective diameter is of the order 10^-15 m.

3. Scanning tunneling microscopy gives the best picture of individual atoms - for some examples (including painting with atoms) see http://www.almaden.ibm.com/vis/stm/gallery.html

Answer 4

I'm no physics genius but here goes.
I think this is al theoretical, so there may be different theories, or more modern theories. The books I read on science were printed in the 60's.

1. It's circular, but different electrons have different orbits.
2. Don't know. I think electrons are smaller thus the orbit.
3. I don't believe you can actually photograph atoms in the level of detail of seeing electons and protons. They have to use some special equipment to measure that. It's all theory really.

Answer 5

I don't think it is either- electronics don't really orbit. They just have some probability they will be somewhere at some time.

There is sort of a cloud of probability. The electron could be anywhere in the cloud, but spends most of its time in the highly probably areas. The shape of this cloud varies a lot with the presence of other nearby particles.

Answer 6

1.circular
2.the mass of electron and proton r different.Chadwick discovered about neutron.th enucleus is bigger compared to 1 electron