3 atom behavior questions

[Quartile]

if there are two nonbonding atoms next to each other, could their electron clouds overlap slightly? or would they bump each other out of the way?

 

more generally, is there an event horizon for atoms?

 

do positrons exist naturally? if so, where?

 

thanks

[Klaynos]

if there are two nonbonding atoms next to each other, could their electron clouds overlap slightly? or would they bump each other out of the way?

 

more generally, is there an event horizon for atoms?

 

IIRC, then the orbitals cannot overlab because the outer electrons repell each other.

 

 

do positrons exist naturally? if so, where?

 

thanks

 

Yes, but not for very long, they are a natural result of radioactive decay of natural isotopes of some materials including sodium.

[swansont]

more generally, is there an event horizon for atoms?

 

It's a little more involved than that. You are going to get a potential energy curve that looks like one of these two. The one that goes <0 represents a bound state, and the one that remains >0 is unbound (opposite spin vs same spin for H in this case) You can see that the unbound state always repels - generally they will induce dipoles in each other. If the spin of one electron can be made to flip, and the excess energy released, it will then become a bound system. Things become more complicated with larger atoms as you get more states and potential transitions involved.

 

edit: note that I was assuming you meant "event horizon" metaphorically rather than technically. Ben gives you a link to the actual event horizon information.

[BenTheMan]

if there are two nonbonding atoms next to each other, could their electron clouds overlap slightly? or would they bump each other out of the way?

 

You're thinking classically. The electrons live in clouds, not orbitals. They are also negatively charged, so they repell each other. If you're familiar with classical mechanics, this is what causes the normal force usually---the electrostatic repulsion between, say, your ass molecules and the chair molecules prevents you from falling to the floor, where the repulsion between your ass molecules and the molecules that make the Earth keep you from falling to the center of the Earth, where gravity wants to pull you.

 

more generally, is there an event horizon for atoms?

 

You could do the calculation, you know Here's the formula. Put in the mass of the atom and find out what the Schwarzschild radius is. Then look up the average radius of the atom and see if it's bigger or smaller. Be sure to convert everything to kilograms and meters, and let me know what you find.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarzschild_metric

 

do positrons exist naturally? if so, where?

 

Sometimes---they are produced in beta decay. They only live untill they find an electron.

[Quartile]

hmm thank you

 

in my post, "event horizon" refers to the size of an atom's sphere of gravitational influence on other atoms. at what point in space around the atom does the atom's gravitational field cease to affect the atoms around it? what about its electromagnetic field?

 

what happens if we represent the electromagnetic force as a curvature in the variables that make up an electromagnetic field, as was done with gravity and spacetime? does that make no sense?

[swansont]

hmm thank you

 

in my post, "event horizon" refers to the size of an atom's sphere of gravitational influence on other atoms. at what point in space around the atom does the atom's gravitational field cease to affect the atoms around it? what about its electromagnetic field?

 

what happens if we represent the electromagnetic force as a curvature in the variables that make up an electromagnetic field, as was done with gravity and spacetime? does that make no sense?

 

As Ben alluded/explained, gravity has a negligible influence on the atomic scale when any of the other forces are present.

 

As for electromagnetic curvature, start here