Maxwell states in his electromagnetic theory that when a charged particle moves under the influence of an attractive force, it loses energy continuously in the form of electromagnetic radiations and, in doing so, shall follow a spiral path towards the attractive force.
This should apply to electrons as they are charged.
Suppose electrons revolve around the nucleus of an atom in their orbits under the influence of the attractive field (exerted by the nucleus), they should lose energy continuously and thus follow a spiral path into the nucleus, as a result of which the atom should collapse.
But as this doesn't happen, we know this is not the case with the electrons.
There a few reasons that explain this behaviour of electrons. Some of them are:
a) Plank's Quantum Theory states that energy is released in discrete quantities, and not continuously. Therefore electrons don't lose energy continuously and thus do not obey Maxwell's theory.
b) When light, which has passed through an atom, is allowed to pass through a prism, the spectrum obtained is discrete, thereby showing that electrons do not lose energy continuously.
c) Bohr states that the angular momentum of an electron in an orbit should always be an integral multiple of h/2
. So if the electron does follow a spiral path, its momentum will take non-integral values of h/2.As a result, this spiraling orbit of the electron can't exist. Therefore the electrons don't fall into the nucleus.
There is this confusing part of the motion of an electron. Since the centrifugal force of the electrons, in orbits close to the nucleus, almost balance the electrostatic force of attraction of the nucleus, those electrons shouldn't move or they should move very slightly. As the electrostatic force of attraction on the electrons decreases with the increase in distance from the nucleus, those electrons in the far orbits revolve faster. Another cause for this motion is that the electrons are repelling each other in their respective orbits. So electrons in different orbits revolve with varying speeds.
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