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Why does an electron not make contact with a proton?

Like fores repel, unlike forces attract. The simple hydrogen atom has one proton and one electron, why does the electron buzz around the proton, a relatively great distance from the proton, the charges are equal and opposite. Why does the electron not collide with the proton?

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  • Mak
    Lv 5
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    I want to ask you another question. Why does moon revolve around earth and not collide with it? They both are massive bodies and have enough gravitational attraction to just collide.

    The answer is that the moon is revolving.

    Coming back to electron. If we consider it as a particle revolving around the proton, then why is it there? If it has got that high speed, then why it stays there and not fly off? It is due to the electrostatic force of attraction and you know that. Now, this means that if there was no electrostatic force ( or any other force) then that electron would have gone.

    I mean to say that the electrostatic force works to keep the electron in the orbit and it has a certain maximum value. Since electron is moving with great speeds, the work done by the electrostatic force and hence the potential energy developed is consumed in keeping the electron in the orbit so it cannot further attract it to the nucleus. Thus electron has got some minimum distance from the nucleus which is called as the radius of the orbit.

    Source(s): $$
  • 1 decade ago

    Classical physics doesn't really properly describe the atom. The electron doesn't "buzz around" the proton, it is bound to the proton, occupying a cloud (an "orbital") in and around the nucleus. Part of this cloud actually is right in the center of the nucleus where the proton is.

  • 1 decade ago

    yea, they told one proton and one electron ,but also others there,i think an insulation wall of neutron, were hide there ,it is of special design......by god.

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