mrthole

Thank you very much MM6 and Swansont.

My students understand that electrons do not orbit the nucleus and are found in orbitals but predicting the exact location at any one point in time is virtually impossible. They also understand that it is the repulsive force between the negatively charged particles that keeps the orbitals "separated from each other. The challenge is trying to explain why the electrons, especially in the lower energy levels, do not get pulled into the nucleus do to the attractive force between positive and negative.

Any suggestions in how to explain to high school chemistry students why negatively charged electrons do not crash into the positively charged nucleus? I have one student who is particularly interested in this topic, however, I am finding it difficult to put it into terms he can get his head around. Some strategies I have used are the Accelerating Funnel Model and the Decreasing Box Model which have helped, however, maybe I need to explain them in an alternative way. Thank you for your suggestions in advance.