seriously disabled Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 In the chemical bond article, Wikipedia states that due to the matter wave nature of electrons and their smaller mass, they occupy a very much larger amount of volume compared with the nuclei. But why is that? Why do electrons occupy a very much larger volume than the nuclei because of their smaller mass? What does their mass have to do with the volume they occupy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 deBroglie wavelength is h/p. For a given speed, small mass means small momentum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seriously disabled Posted December 15, 2009 Author Share Posted December 15, 2009 deBroglie wavelength is h/p. For a given speed, small mass means small momentum But how is this related to volume? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Waves are three-dimensional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajb Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 [math]\textnormal{Volume} \approx \left(\frac{h}{p} \right)^{3}[/math] Another useful concept is the Compton wavelength. [math]\lambda_{Compton} = \frac{h}{mc}[/math]. This gives the "smallest possible" radius of an electron. Really, you should think of it as the scale at which quantum effects of the electromagnetic field really kick in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob_for_short Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 In the chemical bond article, Wikipedia states that due to the matter wave nature of electrons and their smaller mass, they occupy a very much larger amount of volume compared with the nuclei. But why is that? Why do electrons occupy a very much larger volume than the nuclei because of their smaller mass? What does their mass have to do with the volume they occupy? It is so in atoms. Look at Hydrogen atom. Both the electron and nucleus "turn around" the atomic center of mass there. As the lectron is lighter, its orbit is larger in the ratio Me/Mp to the nucleus orbit size. In quantum mechanics instead of orbits there are charge "clouds" bu the size ratio is tha same. Another thing is in molecules and condensed (solid) state. There the nuclei oscillate around their equilibrium positions with much larger amplitude - it may attain the inter-atomic size. In a solid state the positive charge is also much widerl "smeared" than in an isolated atom, to be exact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now