Why Doesn’t the Electron Fall into the Nucleus? Franklin P. Mason and Robert W. Richardson ‘San Jose State Unversity, San Jose, CA 95192 ‘A question that must come tothe mind of every beginning chemistry student is: If th electron and the nucleus of an atom are oppositely charged particles, why dossn't the elec {ron fall into the nucleus?” In order to ward off a question of such complexity, an instructor (although disclaiming the answer while giving it) might sa: “Because the electron is moving around the nucleus a a planet moves arvund the en.” Of cour, itis known that this answeris hepelessly raive. For one thing, while in a 1 orbital, the electron has no orbital fangular moomenturn (t= 0), and therelore, cannot be "moving around” anythingin the usval sense of the word. And for an~ other, a charged particle such as an electron, when itis ac celerated, as it would be if it were in orbit around a nucew radiates energy. This would cause the electron to spiralinto nucleus, not stay away from it: This paper presents, a simple, et essentially correct mode of the atom that can be tise fo answer the above question even for beginning students of chemistey yen though a planetary model of the stom can no longer be used, a clue car be taken from it for anew answer to the question, Asis well known, for stable planetary motion there are two forces at play which must balanee each other. The Cendeney ofa planet to fll into the sun (because of gravitax tional attraction) must be balanced bythe oppesite tendency for the planet to leave the sun (because ofits forward moton) Forstable planetary motion the'foree in” equals the “force oii," and for gravitational o electric attraction the potential energy is twice the magnitude ofthe kinetic energ¥ and op posite insign (KE = ~PB) (7) ‘The model of the atom presented here is fsrmulated by analogy to stable planeiary motion. In this model two factors are identified, one that tends to bring the electron closer to the mucleus and one that tends to make the electron escape frou the nucleus. This model wil fist be discussed in qual 40 Journal of Chemical Education tative termsas it might be explained to a beginning student, and thea it will be presented in more detail in quantitative terms. ‘Qualitative Presentation “The factor that tends toring theelectron and mucleys to gether is, of course, electrostatic attraction, ‘The factor that tends to make the electron and nveleus ‘move apart must now be discussed. Consider an otherwise empty box containing one electron. All particles, including electrons, display wave as well as particle properties. When an electron is contained in any way, for example in a box, its ‘wave properties become very important. When contained, the electron becomes. “particle ina bor,” that is, it resembles a three-dimensional standing wave of matter and electrical charge (which has been called an electron cloud). Associated with any particle in a box isa certain energy (or set of energy levels) which can be called the “energy of con tainment”# ofthe particle. All particles have assodated with them a certain wavelength. When a particle is confined in a limited volume, its maximam wavelength is dictated by the size of the container. As the container becomes smaller, the wavelength must also become shorter. As the wavelength becomes shorter, the energy of the particle increases. Tis, in brief, isthe source of the energy of containment, "This relationship, which ie irue for al inverse square force laws In both quantum mechanics and classical mechanics, fan example ofthe vial theorem whichis also ue for many paricle systems. in calculating tne energy ofa mut-elesonatom the pont charge ‘mogel and not the eectren-cloud madel must be Used in he Scrrooongerfarmussion cr quartum mecranes, he “anergy ‘of containment" appears as tho kinetic energy, which Is proportions! {othe cuvatur of the wave functon.40 _Feon 20 oF Tet Energy (ev ) -20 ‘Merely confining an electron to « certain, restricted volume ‘endows it with this energy of containment. the electron were not confined, it would have a lower energy. "Therefore, the electron seeks to escape its confinement, Thus, the contain- ment energy is the factor that makes the electron of an atom, ‘tend to escape from its nucleus. ‘When we add a nucleus to the box, which already contains aan electron, the electrostatic attraction lowers the potential energy, and the total energy becomes a combination of this potential energy and the containment energy (kinetic en- ergy). Tn light of this model for the atom, the students’ original ‘question can now be answered as follows: An atom is mace up ofa positively charged nucleus and one oF more negatively charged electrom around the nucleus Since the nucleus fad tho cleatzon are of different shargen, naturally they attact ane ‘nother and tend to come together. However, an electron isnot only ‘particle; but als ic babaves as 4 wave, Because thie tie, ee ean ‘sualize theelecizon not asa discrete partic, but rather as diffuse ‘hud of matter and eloctseal charge around the nucleus Ax the tectron and nucleus come slose together that is, as the electron is fnfined more snd more (and the electron clatid scones smaller sd ‘naller), the wavelength of the electron mast became shorter and Shorter so that it ean “fit” into the confining spmer. Asis wavelength becomes shorter, the electon’s-energy increases, Exentualy, the fenercy possessed by the electzon due to its confinement becomes sulfleently great that the eleetroatie potential energy can no longer ‘online to deaw the electron ard nucleus closer together. At that point en equilibrium is established in which the atom is stable and Inwhich the electron neither goes toward the nucleus (letron cloud becoming staller| nor does iLescape fram the nuceus (electron eloud becoming large) ‘Quantitative Presentation ‘The factor that tends to bring the electron and nucleus to- gether is electrostatic attraction o where: = force of attraction, Ze = charge on the nucleus in su, ¢ = charge on the electron in esu, andr = distance sepa- rating the particles, From this force ¢ potential energy term can be derived. For “ra suitable average must be used (see below) Eye ® where: E, = electrostatic potential enerey, rave value of r. ‘The factor that tends to make the electron escape from the aucleus is the energy of containment, Econ (2). The energy of containment of any particle depends only upon the mass of, the particle and the shape and size of the box in which itis confined.‘ Foran electron ina Is orbital? ofthe kydragen atom (the simplest case) the confining “box” is spherically sym- metrical. Thus, to find the energy of containment for an electron of a hydrogen-like atom, solutions must be found for the energy of a particle of mass = min a spherical hox. The solutions to the Schroedinger equation for a particle in a spherical box ean bo quite complex. Fortunately, however, the solutions for radially ssmmetrical cases (s states) are etsily obtained and, infect, turn out to be identical o those for a Particle ina one-dimensional box (3). For radially symmetrical slates, the containmentenengy of a particle in aspherical box wwerage (ae the distance 2a, Planck's constant, m = mass of the electron, and a = di- ameter of the containing sphere. The wave functions for such sytem are wellknown (4) andor shown forn = 1,2, and Ain Figure 1 ‘This model suggests that the atom is stable because there is an equilibrium established between the tendency of the ‘lectron to be drawn to the nucleus due to electrostatic at- traction and the tendency ofthe electron to leave the nucieus due to its desize to escape its confinement. For this model, the total energy of theatom, Bos, is Ere" Bova Be w Ze ‘ima? Pas ‘where “re” should be someaverage value between zero" and Era © Vie assume here thatthe barier to escape from He boxis ine, but that wihin the box here are no forces limiting the postion ofthe introduced by Muliken, is used to describe Indvual wave functon solutions tote Schroodinger equation. "Fora one-dimensional box, the equation is obtained as follows: Position of nucleus Electron wave form = 1 “Toga tha maxinem lacon dns the rocks must ea V2. Thenp-= n/N KE = pel2m=e/am\== reset ‘ema oe neteadtat tra Oi speears the poleal ene ‘erm bocons inte Because the uncetant pci, however, ‘en can te be eal oan roe tho potential era rm ine become ri, Volume 60 Number 1 January 198344Energy of Containment (cer), Potential Energy (E,), and Total Energy (Era) for an electron in a spherical box o ameter a, in which there Is « central charge of + Oo a Figure 2 Pl for ayarogenske atom (z= 1, 4/2. This average value can be approximated as 3/8a which now gives Bin terms of “a” only as ti at ‘na? Se For the model to yield steble stom there must bea radius f the confining sphere at which Bois ato minimum and at which: Bre oe In the Tableare listed Eq, Ey, and Erg for various radii ha averago dtarce of pons (and teal elven Ghargo dons ofthe “smearedaut” particl-in-he-bo0) from the centr ofthe sphere havamorae b Sees ann Sua oe This is an example of the famous variation grincigle of quartum ‘mochenics which states tha! approximate wave functions always give higher energy tan tho rue ground-state wave function. This allows detormination of which approximate wave tuncton a beet and io to basis of much theoretical enemy Since 9 = ic used, thief tho lowost onorgy stato possible for the system, therefore canrot lose any futher eneray by radiation and this the alostron cannot spel int the nulaus "This va is obtanod by intgrating the probably éensty function ofthe election na given spherical volume slamaat aorta) amtyp = + reap between zera and 1.969/2 A (6) 4 R= 8/80. 42 Journal of Chemical Education ah rm arealy cowie) en) Ere) 4100 oars 37 m3 a7 300 125 42 =ps A368 500 hers 1s =r = of the containing sphere for the radially symmetrical ease of then = I state of « hydrogen-like atom (Z = 1). This data is plotted in Figure 2. ‘The point of minimum energy in the F'n, curve is obtained by setting the first derivative of eqn. 6 equal to zero.? ig _ 208k | Sze ar ma? * aa? Solving for a, we obtain wih? Rezem “6 Forn = Land Z = 1, = 1.963 A, ‘Thus indeed this very simple model yields astable atom." ‘There is @ minimum in the Er curve, and at the min- 2B ‘The mocel predicts that fora stable hydrogen-like atom in its 1s slate, the electron cloud will be 100% contained in a sphere ‘of 1.963 A in diameter, and that the ionization potential for thisatom will be 93 eV. These values compare reasonably well with those obtained inthe exact solution ofthe hydrogen atom (5) for which the 1s electron is 71.7% contained within a sphere of 1.963 A diameter and has an ionization potential of, 136 eV. Ttshould be noted that a “box” is not necessary to have confinement energy. For example, if« wave function equal to ‘Nlexp~r/a]is chosen and the variation principle applied to find “a,” the exact energy is obtained. This is so because @ function has been chosen that isof the exact form as thetrue «ground-state function in ths cas, the walls of the "box" fade away gradually, The present model is based upon aspherical box because itis more easily visualized than a "box" with no sharp walls. Thus, some accuracy is sacrificed in order to have ‘a model that students will be more readily able to visualize. ‘Acknowledgment Franklin Mason wishes to thank Dr. Larry Domesh for his inspiration, Professor Gordon G. Goles for his encouragement, ‘and especially Professor John A. Neptune who made it pos” sible -Ey Literature Cited 10) Mag. Pie Chen. ed, Pane Hal e.g Ci, 10 goo eck Ha. ear ang Win, NewYork 1, {6} Se Pauling and ang Wius. "nrductot Qustam Mecha" Mir Hi duction Quntin Mechanic” Caper eins Gant Neca 19