Saturday, July 21, 2012

The Electronic Wave Model Of Electron Orbitals

Induction is the property of an electrical current in a conductor that induces a current in another conductor, if there is relative motion between the two. This concept is familiar to anyone around Niagara Falls, where hydroelectric power is generated. There is also the self-inductance of a coil of wire in a circuit. The initial current induces a secondary current that opposes the original current. This has the effect of "smoothing out" the original current. A coil for this purpose is known as a choke coil.

In another area of basic electronics, we know that an electromagnetic wave that we call a radio wave is set up when an alternating electric current, which is a movement of electrons, is made to flow with a high frequency in a circuit. An antenna is connected to the circuit to assist the propagation of the radio waves.

I got to wondering why these same principles wouldn't also apply to the orbitals of electrons within the atom. These two fundamentals of electronics, induction and radio wave creation, take place because of the nature of electrons, and the electrons in orbit around an atomic nucleus have exactly the same properties. My reasoning is that basic electronics should be able to provide a lot of insight into what goes on in electron orbitals within atoms.

If one or more electrons moving up and down in a radio antenna will set up an electromagnetic radio wave, then what about the electrons in orbit within atoms? Isn't it logical that these electrons would create electromagnetic waves also, considering that an orbit is a form of circuit?

My hypothesis is that, just as the current in a coil of wire induces another current that opposes the original current, electrons pair up and position themselves so that the electromagnetic waves that the two produce will cancel one another out. Electrons operate in pairs, with opposite spin. Notice the strong resemblance between an orbital pair of electrons and a waveform. All waves consist of crests and troughs, when a crest meets a trough of the same wavelength the two will mutually cancel one another.

Both electron in a pair create waves, but with the crests and troughs of the waves inverted. This causes the two waves created by an electron pair to cancel one another out.

The Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli introduced the Pauli Exclusion Principle. This states that no two electrons in an atom can have the same quantum numbers, which define the energy levels of the electrons. The quantum numbers had been defined by another Austrian, Erwin Schrodinger.

Electron pairs are two electrons that have the same quantum numbers, but have opposite spin. I take that to mean that the two electrons in such a pair will produce electromagnetic waves that will completely cancel one another.

The two electrons position themselves to achieve this cancellation so that there will be no net wave produced because the wave produced by one electron can move the other electron in the pair, but not those in other orbitals with different quantum numbers because their waves are of a different wavelength. Electrons filling the orbitals in an atom first pair so that they match one another, and then they position themselves so that they cancel each other's wave.

Remember that our universe always seeks the lowest energy state. This is why an object falls when it is dropped. It requires less energy for it to fall than it does to maintain it in it's position. The same principle applies with all of physics. This is why electrons position themselves, being moved by the opposing electron in the pair, so that no net wave is produced. Generating electromagnetic waves requires energy, and the nature of the universe is that it always seeks the lowest energy state.

It may seem that having the shells and orbitals of electrons in atoms is, in itself, a violation of this seeking of the lowest energy state because this represents a higher energy condition than all of the electrons just crowding into the lowest shell, the one closest to the nucleus, which is also the lowest energy level for electrons in the atom. But then that would mean that the electrons would not cancel each other's waves, and the generation of waves would mean a higher energy state.

This also explains the basis of magnetism. In a magnet, there are unpaired electrons whose spin has been aligned so that the unpaired electrons all spin in one direction. Seen from one direction is the magnet's north pole and from the other the south pole. Opposite poles of two magnets strongly attract because their waves are cancelling out, thus producing a lower energy state and the energy that is saved is why the magnet is able to lift iron.

The waves of unpaired electrons with opposite spin will draw together and cancel one another in the process. Since waves are electromagnetic in nature, the two magnets with facing opposite poles will attract, just as opposite electric charges attract.

But all of this shows that electron waves must exist. Magnetism is when these waves have an influence outside the atom. Magnets can lift non-magnetized iron because the pole of the magnet, with unpaired electrons spinning in only one of two possible directions, will induce unpaired electrons in the non-magnetized iron to spin in the opposite direction and thus draw the two pieces of metal together. But the attraction between a magnet and non-magnetized iron is never as strong as that between the opposite poles of two equivalent magnets.

Now it becomes clear what happens when we try to force the like poles of two magnets together. The energy required is just the opposite of the attraction between two opposite poles, whose waves cancel out. Instead of crest meeting trough, we have crest meeting crest and trough meeting trough. Instead of cancelling out, and allowing the energy thus released to pull the two magnets together, this requires more energy to force the like poles together.

With this in mind, how do you suppose that electric motors and generators work? If we force the delocalized electrons in metal to move in one direction, by the application of a voltage or electromotive force, it must also align their directions of spin. My scenario here shows that it is actually the aligned direction of electron spin, rather then the simple movement of electrons, which makes it possible for an electric current to exert mechanical force in an electric motor. An electric generator is basically the reverse of an electric motor, with the mechanical force producing the current.

But an electric wire that was not in physical contact should not be able to exert any force on anything, regardless of current flowing through it, unless the electrons of that electric current were producing some kind of waves to transmit energy and force. If the spin of the electrons moving in the current were unaligned, they would simply cancel one another out and no net force would be exerted. Such a force, on magnetic material such as iron, could only be exerted by an electric current if the movement of the current also aligned the spin of the electrons, just as in a stationary magnet.

The same concept does not apply to a light bulb, or to the production of heat by electricity, because that energy is the result of the moving electrons losing energy by resistance in the wire. The lost energy has to go somewhere, and it shows up as heat.

But all of this shows that the Electronic Wave Model Of Electron Orbitals must be correct. We can see that these waves must be produced by electrons in their orbitals but, in non-magnets, we do not see any evidence of such waves. We know that electrons operate in pairs, with opposite spin, and the normal lack of evidence of such waves outside the atom can only mean that they cancel out.

This model explains why elements that have even numbers of both protons and electrons are more stable than those that have odd numbers. Even numbers of electrons in an atom are well-known to produce more chemical stability. It is because even numbers are necessary for complete pairing, and pairing is necessary for this wave cancellation. This concept also helps to explain why electron orbitals in atoms like to be either empty, full or, half full. It also explain why matter is said to have a wave nature, as well as a matter nature.

Metals differ from non-metals in that a number of atoms share their outer-shell electrons among themselves. These are known as delocalized electrons, and the group of sharing atoms is known as a crystal. In some metals, most notably iron, these shared electrons can be made to align their motion, rather than cancelling out the effect of their charges. We then see the effect known as magnetism, and why magnetism is related to electricity which is the movement of the electrons..

The electromagnetic waves that must be generated by an electron moving in an atomic orbital, just as an alternating current in a circuit and an antenna produces a wave, would not be readily detectable by us. The wave produced by a single electron, even if it was not cancelled out by it's opposing pair electron, would be exceedingly faint in the space beyond. If the wave had been produced by an unpaired electron, it would then be cancelled by the waves from other unpaired electrons.

While there must be alignment by electron pairs, there would be no such alignment with other electrons either within the same atoms or in other atoms. This means that, even if the waves did not cancel, they would dissipate out of phase and would not reinforce one another in materials other than magnets.

Furthermore we, and any equipment that we build and use, must necessarily be made of matter. These "electron orbital waves", as we will refer to them, would be of extremely high frequency and short wavelength. X-rays and gamma rays pass right through matter because the atom is actually mostly empty space, and these waves are fine enough to go right through at least the atoms of some elements.

Remember that electromagnetic waves are reflected by matter which is about the same size as the wavelength of the waves, meaning that waves of extraordinarily short wavelength can pass right through the electron orbitals of atoms. Waves from electron orbitals would be of far shorter wavelength than this, making most of these waves undetectable by any equipment made of matter.

I cannot see how these electron orbital waves would not exist. This explains the nature of electron orbitals in atoms ideally, and fits with the properties of electrons in basic electronics.

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