Do electrons experience air resistance?

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Intuition says no, because they’re subatomic and would there for not be impeded by air molecules. But it seems like they could potentially collide with air molecules which would stop their motion, there for being resistance given by air; air resistance.

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Well, electrons that are in atomic orbitals do experience “air resistance” because electrons repel each other and the air molecules have electrons in orbitals of their own. In fact, that is what all air resistance (and indeed, all molecule-molecule collisions) is governed by: the repulsion between electron orbitals. They don’t collide, but the orbitals don’t want to touch, which is why you can’t phase through a wall in addition to experiencing air resistance.

But free electrons (like in an electrical current) behave a little differently. They experience “air resistance” in the sense that air is a very bad conductor and doesn’t let electrons flow freely. On the other hand, high enough voltage will ionize the air – ripping electrons off of air molecules to turn it into a good conductor – which we perceive in the form of static electric shocks, current arcs, and lighting.

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