4 ms·
It always seemed natural to me that the number of electrons would grow quadratically with the distance (principal atomic number), just like the surface area of
by nullc 6y ago
It always seemed natural to me that the number of electrons would grow quadratically with the distance (principal atomic number), just like the surface area of a sphere grows quadratically with increasing radius.
I feel like the author of the comment calling it "by accident" would be extremely unhappy with number theory. In number theory all sorts of properties seem to crop up "by accident" but turn out to have incredible consequences and you realize that virtually every "accident" couldn't have gone any other way without destroying all of mathematics.
- whatshisface 6y agoThe electron shells themselves are in reality 3D objects that go all the way to the center, so it is a little strange after all that it increases with the surface area.
- number6 6y agoIs this true? I mean its a model. Aren't electron shells the quantum states of the electron fields?
- thicknavyrain 6y agoIt is true. The classical wavefunction of a ground state electron overlaps pretty heavily with the nucleus of an atom IIRC.
- jeherr 6y agoOnly for s-orbitals. Anything with a quantum number l>0 has 0 probability at the nucleus.
- Causality1 6y agoIs it? I'm not a physicist but it seems like another natural infinitesimal, sort of like how a black hole's singularity is a point of infinite density whose infinity isn't a factor in calculating the total mass-energy of the black hole.
- jeherr 6y agos-orbitals (l=0) have non-zero probability at the nucleus. Anything higher (p-, d-, f-orbitals) have 0 probability at the nucleus.