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treehouse
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Homework Statement
"What force keeps the electron from falling into the nucleus of the atom?"
Homework Equations
The Attempt at a Solution
I have three hypotheses:
1. Neutrons have a negative charge (although there is not only electron capture but also b+ decay)
2. The electrons in the orbital(s) repel each other (although this would suggest the repulsive force is stronger than the attractive one)
3. The electrons continue in the same direction on the very edge of the protons' ranges of attraction because they both have the same amount of attraction (the protons wouldn't pull them any more than they would pull the protons. Or would a speeding electron go as far as its momentum would carry it until it got sucked to where its momentum brought it to curvature of a proton's attraction?). How does angular momentum plug into this conceptual framework?