Thread 16823482

the proton carries a positive electric charge; the electron carries an equal but opposite negative charge. their magnitudes are exactly the same, which is why they can neutralize each other in an atom. this perfect symmetry is not accidental, it's the foundation of the universe's electrical balance

the proton is about 1,836 times heavier than the electron. yet despite being so much lighter, the electron's negative charge exerts the same electrical pull as the proton's positive one. this makes the electron agile and mobile, while the proton stays mostly fixed in the atomic nucleus

the force between them is electromagnetic attraction. this is what keeps the electron bound to the proton in the hydrogen atom, or to the nucleus in any atom. it's an invisible tension, like gravity's electric cousin, vastly stronger and more immediate

>>16823482 (OP)
Wow, that's super deep. When can we expect your preprint on the arxiv?

>the electron doesn't orbit the proton like a planet around a sun. It exists as a probability cloud, a wave of potential around the proton. their "relationship" isn't a chase but a dance of presence and possibility, constantly exchanging photons (the quanta of electromagnetic interaction)
this explanation is no good. "le probability cloud". work on it, /sci/entists

>>16823496
Why don't you work on reading a textbook? Instead of confusing yourself with wordies that you don't understand.

>>16823493
I bet you can't come up with the right questions

Those are elementary particles, the smaller things under 'normal conditions' and charge is a quantized magnitude.
And they don't neutralize, at least not at microscopic scale, it's more complex.
>it's the foundation of the universe's electrical balance
And the Universe is asymmetrical enough to have galaxies, planets, etc instead of a mass of matter and anti-matter being in a constant state of mutual destruction

the electron is a quantized excitation of the electron field, a ripple or vibration that can only exist in discrete amounts (that's the "quantum" part). I bet this "Einstein" that came to the thread cannot understand that

>>16823497
>post frog
into the garbage can it goes

an atom is not a little solar system of particles. It's a stable structure of fields, regions of vibrating energy. the nucleus (protons and neutrons) and the surrounding electron pattern are standing waves of different kinds of fields, locked together by their interactions. what makes an atom stable is not matter orbiting matter, but the balance between attraction (electromagnetic) and quantum pressure that prevents collapse. I bet the "Einstein" there didn't know that