How long would it take for an orbiting electron to crash into the nucleus of an atom? In this video, we use classical physics to calculate the collapse time for a hydrogen atom, highlighting the limitations of classical mechanics in explaining atomic stability.
We begin by exploring the classical model of the atom, applying Coulomb’s law and Newtonian mechanics to describe the motion of the electron. Using the Larmor equation for energy radiation, we derive a differential equation to calculate the time it takes for the electron to spiral into the nucleus.
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