What prevents an electron from flying off?

Question

What prevents an electron from flying off from an atom and what prevents an electron from trying to reach singularity with an atom?

"It's attracted by the elecromagnetic force of the protons, which is caused by their positive charge. The electron is negative.

The electron has energy, so it moves. If you could freeze it to 0 degrees kelvin, then all motion would stop."

What stops the attraction from making the electron reach singularity?

What stops the attraction from making the electron reach singularity with the atom?

Answer 1

Electrons around a atom are in specific "orbitals". These are not orbits like planets around a sun; they are more like cloud shapes around the atomic nucleus. To change from one orbital to another takes energy. To fly off from the atom takes energy. Most electrons just don't have enough energy to do this.

The lowest orbital is called 1s, then there is 2s, 2p, etc. (See the link). A magical force, called quantum mechanics (QM), keeps electrons from getting any lower -- any closer to the atomic nucleus. QM also keeps electrons from being between orbitals. Instead, electrons "jump" (really, it is instantaneous teleportation) from one orbital to the next..

QM follows certain physical laws, but they are very complicated mathematically.

Answer 2

The Electric force prevents the electron from flying away. It also attracts the electron directly to the nucleus. However, ,even the lowest allowed orbital does not come anywhere near the nucleus.

This is different when you put a muon in orbit instead of an electron. The muon is exactly the same as an electron, except that it is much heavier. The lower energy states of muonium are finite within the nucleus, and so there is some possibility of finding it there.

Answer 3

Electrons can only stay in their orbitals when the frequency of the electron wave constructively interferes. That's why electron orbitals are specific sizes and why photos that bump electrons from one orbital to another are a specific frequency; the electron has to absorb exactly the right amount of energy for such a jump. Adding a large amount of energy can bump the electron completely free, which is the photoelectric effect. The energy required for that is the energy required to raise the electron to infinity with respect to the nucleus; it's analogous to the energy required to achieve escape velocity in a gravitational scenario.

Answer 4

Electrons do leave atoms, electric current flows when there is an excess of positivly charged electrons at one point and it has a path to equalize the number of positive and negative electrons.

Answer 5

electrostatic gravity.