about atoms- lectron's orbit around the nucleus and proton...?

Question

atoms have electrons(negative) and protons(positive)...and they said that opposite attracts each other. The nucleus of an atom contains protons. The electrons now orbit around the nucleus? why is it like that? why isn't the electron attracted by the nucleus eh it contains the protons?

to be clear guys, if they attract each other they should be attached to each other right? like the opposite poles of a magnet.. but why is it that it orbits rather than being attached? they said it's similar to the orbit of moon around the earth...both have gravity..gravity pulls so if it pulls why does the moon just orbit and does not stick to the earth? just curious and im dying to know it...=)

Answer 1

In this model of the atom we have electrons orbiting the protons in the middle. This orbit is due to the attraction that exists between them, it wouldn't be possible without that force.

It might help as an example to think of the earth going around the sun. Here there is an attraction which exists due to gravity. However, we are in an orbit of the sun. The force results in us rotating around the sun at the center. This is exactly the same principle as with the atom however, now we have electromagnetic forces instead of gravity.

I hope this helps. It might be worth looking at some examples of 'uniform circular motion' on-line. To maintain a circle the object must have acceleration pointing towards the center of that circle. As Newton's second law implies, acceleration is due to force. This explains how the force of attraction and the orbit are possible.

Here's one I found:
http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssci/phys/mmedia/circmot/ucm.html

EDIT: In response to your additional details.

It might be a little harder to picture but objects don't need to be in physical contact to be create a force on each other. The thing about both the "gravitational field" and the "electric field" (these are the things that objects with mass and charge respectively produce) is that they can create forces over a distance with no obvious physical connection.

So, you are correct that one possible movement for two attracting objects would be for them to move together and collide. This is the kind of motion you'd observe if you held in place two stationary objects which attract each other and then you let go. They would both attract and then move towards each other.

If the two objects were not stationary however, and more specifically one of them was given a large enough velocity in a direction perpendicular to the direction towards the other particle, then an object can also occur due to this force. This is an example of uniform circular motion and it would really help if you had a look at the mathematics behind this.

In summary,
1. A charged object gives off an 'electric field' and when an oppositely charged particle is placed in this field the two objects attract each other. They are not 'connected' in any simple way and this force happens over a distance.

2. Two objects which attract each other will not necessarily ever come into contact with one another. Just like some planets or the electron in this model of the atom, we can see situations where there is a distance between the two objects and the force acts to pull them together but instead, due to a velocity perpendicular to the force, they produce an orbit.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

I have to agree with "Professional Physicists" answer. I would like to add my two bits as a partial explanation.

For a short answer skip to "The short answer starts here:"

For the long winded explanation read on (Yes, I realize I'm a wind bag).

The electron has a definite wave length just like light waves, sound waves or waves on the ocean. As an electron circles the nucleus its own waves cause constructive and destructive interference (theoretical, we can't watch this yet).

This means that in some places the peaks of the waves coincide (constructive interference) and add together to make a bigger wave and in other places the waves are opposing (destructive interference) and totally subtract from each other.

Imagine drawing a wavy round path (do you remember Spiro graph). If you are allowed to draw waves that are always the same distance from peak to peak then for certain sized circles the peaks will always be in the same spot. For larger or smaller circles the peaks will not meet. And for very specific sized circles the peaks will meet the valleys.

Where a peak meets a peak we can give a score of 2 (simply 1+1) where a peak meets a valley the score is 0 (1-1). So as you change the size of the circular orbit (these are the wavy circles you are imagining) the score will range from 0 to 2.

So at certain diameters (there will be a lot, think infinity) the circumference will be a multiple of your specific wavelength. At these diameters the score will be 2, halfway in between the score will be 0. This number can represent the chances of finding an electron of your wavelength at these particular diameters. In essence this is a reasonable description of an orbital.

The short answer starts here:

An orbital is a place where an electron can exist. In between orbitals the wavelength of the electron causes destructive interference and the electron can not exist (it cancels itself out). The chances of existing electrons changes between orbitals so there is a percentage of electrons which can exist not exactly within the precise orbital.

As the electron approaches the nucleus there is an area where no electron can exist because its waveform will not allow it (destructive interference). Electrons also have too much energy to stop therefore they can not reside in the small confines of the nucleus. It is likely that if we remove enough energy from an electron it reverts into something else and can easily be wherever it wants.

Orbitals are not actually circles, this has just been an analogy.

Answer 3

As you can see from the number of answers you're received, there are many ways to express what electrons do and why they do it...some can even give you distances, etc. However, let me try something that might make it a little clearer:

First of all, NOBODY is really sure why electrons behave the way they do...there accepted theories, but nobody really knows for sure.

Secondly, don't think of electrons as little "balls of negatively charged matter"...they are apparently no such thing. Electrons act more like a standing wave of energy that exists around the core of an atom, possessing angular momentum...as if they were spinning around the atom's core. Yes, electrons exhibit a "negative charge" and although positive things attract negative things, when atomic "particles" (very deceptive word) get close, they are repelled by the "strong nuclear force". This force is so strong that we have to build big accelerators to speed them up so we can shoot them at one another in an attempt to overcome these strong forces that have a very short effective distance.

When an electron gains strength, it's wave amplitude (how big it is) increases until the waveform can no longer exist and the electron's wavelength increases instead. You can see a physical demonstration of this if you wiggle a rope tied between to sticks...the humps get bigger until they suddenly shrink...but there are more of them. The energy has been distributed amongst more waves instead of the waves getting higher. When electrons go through this they "jump" to a new orbital (or suborbital)...but this is just a phrase to put a very abstract concept into terms you can understand.

Meanwhile, objects in a gravitational field, like the Earth and the Moon, are attracted to one another, but their motion keeps them in an orbit. So you know, the word "orbit" means that something is falling towards something else at a speed where its curvature matches the curvature of the object it's falling towards. So, technically speaking, the moon is forever falling towards the Earth, but its arc matches the curvature of the Earth so it never actually hits the Earth. If it seems like a very big coincidence that the moon just happens to have the right speed to orbit us without falling into us, well, it is. Many scientists believe that it may eventually slow down enough to hit us, but that the sun will probably explode before that happens.

So, electrons "orbit" a proton or nucleus for a different reason than the moon orbits the Earth, and neither are about negatives being attracted to positives.

If you're still confused, don't worry about it, so are many scientists who are still looking for one theory that will explain how everything works.

Answer 4

very good question, shows a good understanding! Afraid the answers so far are incorrect! If the idea of an orbiting electron were correct it would indeed spiral into the nucleus!(rather quickly too!!). So something else is going on.....quantum mechanics! the electron is also a wavelike structure and if there is an integer number of wavelengths in the "orbit" then the electron is stable. you may also think of the electron as being a smeared out charge that is all around the nucleus...unfortunately there is no single "image" for the mind to grasp.
Oh dear!
orbiting due to gravity is completely different to how an electron "orbits" a nucleus! There is no connection whatever.
Former is classical physics the latter purely quantum. Electromagnetics have no effect on the earth-moon system and gravity has no bearing on the electron-proton motion.

Answer 5

When the physics began to understand the matter, they used to compare the atom with the solar system. But very soon the quantum physic made this simple atom image irreal.
Now the physics refuse to compare microscopic world with the world we can see (macroscopic). An atom is just a equation.
Remember: the electron is 'a particle and a wave'. The electron location is a probabilistic equation, like a 'cloud of probabilities'.
The electron only would change the probable distance to the atom nucleus 'jumping' and emitting a specific photon.
The nucleus contains the protons, with positive charge, but those protons are 'glued' together... why? how?
The micro world is so different to the things we know that nobody can imagine how it is.

Answer 6

This is tough one. From what I understand, the electron's charge is limited, it has enough to attract it to the region of the proton but not enough to get closer than 1/1600 th of the diameter of the proton, it it contacts the proton it becomes embedded in it and makes a neutron. The electron does no orbit the proton as a satellite orbits a planet, it is in an unpredictable at a ceratin distance from the proton.

Answer 7

Electrons and protons attract each other thats why electrons revolves around the nucleus, because without the force of attraction it must escape out of the nucleus orbit. This phenomenon is similarly like the earth's gravity phenomenon, earth attracts everything towards itself but after a certain ditance objects start revolving around the earth.Force of attraction gets weaker on increasing the distance and after certain distance it vanishes.the separation between the electrons and the nucleus is such, that it give the weak force of attraction which enables the electron to revolve around it, if you would give energy to it you can abstract it .

Answer 8

Hi, The nucleus consists of protrons and neutrons. The net charge of the atom is neutral because the orbiting electrons total negative charge strength equals the total positive charge strength of the protons in the nucleus. Also, the number of protons and electrons in an electrically balanced atom are equal. The neutrons help balance the nucleus keeping the electrons orbiting the nucleus in bands.

Answer 9

The electron *is* attracted to the nucleus. That is why it orbits instead of continuing its motion in a straight line at constant speed, as it would do in the absence of forces according to Newton's First Law.

Answer 10

They do attract each other, but the electron is traveling at a great rate of speed, circling the much heavier proton which is more or less stationary. It's sort of like the planets orbiting the much larger sun.