Electron orbitals |
|
How do electrons maintain a stable orbit inside atoms?
Because the proton and electron emit both positive and negative fields, so attractive and repulsive forces are produced between these particles when their fields intersect each other. If these opposing forces have equal strengths when these particles are a certain distance apart, then the electron would maintain a fixed position relative to the proton.
|
| Some of the field interactions between the proton and electron produce attractive forces as shown below. |
Top view - attractive force 1 |
Top view - attractive force 1 |
Side view - attractive force 3 |
|
|
|
|
| |
| Some of the field interactions between the proton and electron produce repulsive forces as shown below. |
Top view - repulsive force 1 |
Top view - repulsive force 2 |
Top view - repulsive force 3 |
|
|
|
Top view - repulsive force 4 |
Top view - repulsive force 5 |
Top view - repulsive force 6 |
|
|
|
|
| |
Both attractive and repulsive forces are acting on the proton and electron. The strength of the attractive force weakens at a faster rate than the repulsive force as the distance between the proton and electron increases. This allows the two particles to maintain a fixed distance from each other at a point where the strength of the attractive and repulsive forces are equal. If an outside force caused the electron to move towards the proton where the repulsive force is stronger than the attractive force then the electron and proton would repel each other until they returned to their original positions. If an outside force caused the electron to move away from the proton where the attractive force is stronger than the repulsive force then the electron and proton would attract each other until they returned to their original positions. |
 |
|
| |
Electron orbital transitions |
|
| |
The emission of a photon causes the electron to make the transition from a higher orbit to a lower orbit. When the electron is in its initial orbit, the attractive and repulsive forces acting on the proton and electron are equal. The emission of the photon decreases the mass of the proton and electron and the attractive and repulsive forces are both weakened. The attractive force is now stronger than the repulsive force at this orbital radius and the proton and electron move towards each other until they reach a point where the 2 opposing forces are equal. The electron has now made the transition from one orbit to another. A transition from one orbital to another also occurs when a photon is absorbed, with the electron moving to a higher orbit. |
|
|
| |
Page summary |
|
- Electrons make the transition between orbitals when a photon is either emitted or absorbed by a proton-electron pair.
- The size of the transition is proportional to the number of discons in the emitted or absorbed photon.
- Emission of a photon decreases the mass of the proton and electron.
- Absorbtion of a photon increases the mass of the proton and electron.
|
| |
|
