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Kev.
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Hello all, this is the first forum i have ever been on so please bare with me, i have so many questions to ask but i would like to start with the size of atoms, can there size be altered? are they all the same size?
Rather than size, it is more appropriate to say electron distribution instead. By applying external fields, e.g. electric or magnetic field, The shape of the electron distribution around the nucleus will be altered.Kev. said:can there size be altered?
Different atoms have different number of electrons, so their "size" cannot be the same.Kev. said:are they all the same size?
Then you should start to change the way you imagine it.Kev. said:I actually did think of them as little balls
What do you mean by single atom on its own?Kev. said:can there can be a single atom on its own?
That's another way of saying that electrons in an atom does not have a strict shell containing them such that they cannot escape out of it. The electrons can be found anywhere around the nucleus and our current theory states that you have nonzero probability to find them far far away from the nucleus only that it's much smaller than finding it closer to the nucleus thanks to the binding potential.Kev. said:i have just watched a video that says that the electrons orbiting the nucleus could be any where but they stay mainly close to the nucleus is this correct?
Strictly speaking yes. Practically, no. Typical probability density to find electrons around the nucleus already fall off considerably within a fraction nanometers.Kev. said:am i right in saying that the electrons can exist outside of the marble then?
You can apply a high pressure. This compresses the material, it also compresses the atoms (for every reasonable definition of a size of an atom in this material). There is no magical switch which would change the size of atoms, however.Kev. said:when i was asking about the atoms size it was because i had a random thought that if we could could control the size of an atom we could control the size of an object, i feel like I've been reading too much sc fi now
An atom can never exist in single way on its own. We say it an atom only because it consists of nucleons and other sub - atomic particles. If there were no sub - atomic particles, there would be no atoms. Got it? :)Kev. said:I actually did think of them as little balls, lol, but can there can be a single atom on its own?
Actually electrons can not be found outside of marble. But only when we apply high energy on an atom, it's electrons starts jumping to high level orbits and when electrons are at highest level, they either go back to lower levels giving out radiations or they jump out from an atom.Kev. said:so if we had a marble, the marble is made of a silly amount of atoms but am i right in saying that the electrons can exist outside of the marble then?
I think he was asking about isolated atoms with nothing else around. Those exist, of course. Helium gas is a collection of many single atoms, for example.Dr. Manoj said:An atom can never exist in single way on its own. We say it an atom only because it consists of nucleons and other sub - atomic particles. If there were no sub - atomic particles, there would be no atoms. Got it? :)
They can, as the wave function doesn't have a fixed boundary.Dr. Manoj said:Actually electrons can not be found outside of marble.
Curiosity: does it have any asymptote at all? Is the possibility that it could end up a light year away but still bound to the atom in a quantum way greater than zero?mfb said:They can, as the wave function doesn't have a fixed boundary.
Atoms cannot be made smaller. They are the smallest unit of matter and cannot be broken down into smaller pieces.
Atoms can be made larger by adding more protons, neutrons, and electrons. This process is known as nuclear fusion and is usually only possible in extreme conditions, such as in a nuclear reactor.
Adding or removing electrons can change the size of an atom. When electrons are added, the atom becomes larger because the negatively charged electrons repel each other. When electrons are removed, the atom becomes smaller because there are fewer negative charges to repel each other.
The size of an atom can be altered by changing the temperature or pressure. When the temperature increases, the atoms vibrate faster and take up more space, making them appear larger. When the pressure increases, the atoms are pushed closer together, making them appear smaller.
It is possible to manipulate individual atoms to change their size using advanced techniques such as scanning tunneling microscopy. However, this type of manipulation is complex and requires specialized equipment and expertise.