Is it possible that earth is just an electron in an atom, and that atoms are really little solar systems?

Answer 1

No. nope. Electrons spin in a cloud. The planets are all on one plane (more or less) The sun is a single (particle). Except for hydrogen, all atoms have more than one particle in their center. The sun has eight planets. If these were truly electrons, the nucleus of the solar system should have 16 particles, eight protons and eight neutrons. And finally, if the sun was positively charged proportionally like a proton and the planets had a similar and proportional charge of negative electrons, all the planets would be pulled out of orbit and plunged into the sun. The electromagnetic force is thousands of times more powerful than gravity.

There is, however, a satisfying symmetry that the same general design can be used from the very small to the very large.

Answer 2

No. Electrons don't stay in single orbits, they jump from energy level to other levels. It is a cute thought but an atom and a planetary system have much different behaviors.

Answer 3

Hmm-m...

Someone is really trying to make something fairly easy into something rather hard here. Where are Neutrons and Protons in your simplistic idea?

If you do your Chemistry homework you will find that within atoms, the electrons are arranged into shells, each shell containing only a certain number of electrons - maximum.
For example, the first shell contains only two electrons. The second and third shells can contain up to eight electrons. And, so on... with the shells containing 16, then 32, and 64 electrons.

When an atom has its outer shell completely full of electrons, it is a stable element. Things like helium (Atomic Number of 2) has 2 electrons in its outer shell and is very stable, won't burn, or explode. It is very, very stable - hard to mess with.
Electron shells are at fixed distances from a nucleus comprized of protons. Some adjustment of these distances occurs due to heating of the atom, however. In cold atoms we would find these distances shorter, and in hot atoms we would find the distances much larger and the circling motion of the electrons about the nucleus much faster.

In solar systems, such as ours, the distances between the center object (a star) has nothing to do with maximum numbers of something in fixed orbits nor do the orbit distances vary with heat. The orbits of electrons around their nucleus is round while the orbits of almost all planets are elliptical. And, most importantly, we seldom, if ever, find one or more planets within the same orbit as we do in the case of electrons within atoms.

There are no set distances for planets to orbit around a central mass such as a star. The orbital distance is set by the star's mass, the planet's mass, and its velocity around the star.

Atomic physics is a fairly cut and dried science. Please do not try to make the Universe such a cut and dried situation, because it is certainly not anything at all like that. For almost every rule there are hundreds of examples of things out there that do not follow those rules. Nobody will ever be able to package the Universe into a neat little bundle and answer all of its mysteries in a simple paragraph or two, like the one you suggested. In fact, we are just now beginning to unravel the secrrets of various planets orbiting some of the other close by stars. In a few years you can plan to have your socks knocked off by new discoveries which will begin coming in rapid fire as this discovery process gets moving really rapidly.

Take this as a "for instance"...

The Milky Way Galaxy contains over 200 Billion Stars. Most scientists are agreed on a number something like that. Now, each one of those stars can have from 0 to 10 (or more) planets with their associated moons orbiting around it. And, if that is not enough to make you breathe deeply, there are thousands and thousands of other galaxies beyond our Milky Way Galaxy - each one containing billions more stars with their own planets and moons orbiting around them.

Some stars are binary. That means that the stars themselves orbit each other in a rapid circling dance which covers millions and millions of miles out in space. We have no clue about the planets which might be circling those stars if they have not been swallowed up or obliterated due to collisions among each other before now. Much to learn out there...

The Universe is vast, beyond your wildest belief, and full of some of the most intrigueing and fascinating things ever seen. I urge you to learn more about it by doing a search on the Internet using the key words:

Curious About Astronomy

Which will take you to a very special site created by folks at Cornell University especially for people who are interested in Outer Space and Astronomy. There you will find almost all of your questions answered and explained, along with hundreds of neat photos and drawings that further illustrate the makeup of the various components of the Universe.

Answer 4

well not necessarily that but i see what you're getting at... like the zoom away seen at the end of men in black:-p

What i think is that maybe the whole dang universe is an electron( or maybe even a string)

Answer 5

I don't know the answer,but I have read some theoretical articles that hint to just that very theory. Physical laws differ in different physical planes so,in theory yes

Answer 6

Nope

Answer 7

Really? Is it possible? Fantastic! But you know many times I also think like this....dont know why.

Answer 8

Yes, and we are just universes for little people inside us... ~

Answer 9

what the heck have you been smoking? it sounds like a scene from animal house.

Answer 10

No.

The physics is almost entirely different.