Monday, November 26, 2012
Asymptotes
On earth, (let's leave space out of this) it is impossible for electrons to ever touch the nucleus of the atom it's a part of. Could we therefore say that, on earth, all atoms have asymptotes? Could we then say that we, and everything we know, are made of asymptotes? Are we then made of a lot of nothing? What does that mean for our physical stability? I know that's a lot of questions, sorry :P
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These are great questions Jane. I am anxious to jump in but will wait for some other comments first.
ReplyDeleteI have never really thought of Atoms as having asymptotes. Jane this is a really in depth thought, I am not quite sure what this would mean for our physical stability but this is not a for sure thing because we are never sure of an electrons exact location we can not be sure 100% that they never come in contact.
ReplyDeleteIf the nucleus of the atom is a sphere then the asymptotes should all be tangent to the nucleus.
ReplyDeleteBrian they just never touch the nucleus. They might touch other electrons (though that is VERY unlikely) but except in a black hole or the explosion of a neutron star the electrons can't touch the nucleus, as far as I know.
ReplyDeleteThe Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle tells us that we can never know the exact location of an electron (exact meaning, "with infinite precision"). If this is true, then the implication is that contact, if "contact" is being defined strictly as position and only position, cannot be demonstrated regardless of the second body, whether that second body is a neutron or another electron. Of course you are suggesting as much Jane, but the question remains, how is this "VERY unlikely" part determined? How unlikely? Can we know "exactly how unlikely"?? And is the liklihood physical or mathematical or some combination of the two?
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ReplyDeleteI think it's pretty unlikely that electrons would touch, unless the momentum overcomes the negative charges that would repel each other. I'm not sure we could know how unlikely, unless we do some kind of research where we could actually watch electrons move.
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