Why can’t electron just reside between two energy shells? What would happen if we grab an electron and forcefully keep it in between two shells?
In: Physics
So to ELI5, think about a playground swing that you’re sitting on. You swing your legs in a particular way at the right time on the swing and you’ll go higher and higher. You’re swinging your legs at a particular frequency to match what the swing ‘wants’.
If you swing your legs at random times at random points, the swing won’t go higher and higher, you’ll end up going nowhere, just shaking around at the bottom.
This is because the swing has a rate that it naturally wants energy added, and when you match that rate, when you match that “natural frequency”, the swing can absorb that energy and take you higher and higher.
The physics of why an electron behaves the way it does is very different, but a similar principal applies. The electron is swinging around the nucleus of the atom at a particular frequency, and if you want to give it more energy, you need to match what it naturally ‘wants’, otherwise it’s like swinging your legs madly around on a stationary swing, not much is going to happen.
Latest Answers