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Yeah, I am not used to seeing the term “cloud” for a single electron. Is that a common term in physics for a single electron? I am very much used to seeing tha
by perardi 3y ago
Yeah, I am not used to seeing the term “cloud” for a single electron.
Is that a common term in physics for a single electron? I am very much used to seeing that phrase as the probability space for electrons in orbitals in an atom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_orbital https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_orbital
In this article I take it to mean “any point particle has a non-zero physical radius, but because quantum mechanics shows everything has a measure of uncertainty, the possibility of the charge within that non-zero space is an amorphous cloud”. But still a weird lexical overlap with the high school physics electron cloud meaning of things.
- drdeca 3y agoConsider the case where the atom in question is hydrogen, with just one electron orbiting it. I would still think the word "cloud" would be used?