Saturday, April 2, 2016

electrons - Can I move the atom nucleus only?


I was wondering if it is possible to move the atom nucleus and leave behind the electrons? I can imagine that the electrons will follow the nucleus. But what if the speed of the nucleus is almost the same as the speed of the electrons or faster. where will the electrons go?


If it is not possible, do we have a theory I can read to explain what could happen?



(Edit: as of the comments, "core" actually refers to "nucleus" -changed)



Answer




Not only is it possible to remove the nucleus from an atom, but the RHIC does it every day!


The RHIC collides heavy nuclei like gold to measure the properties of nuclear matter at high densities. Gold atoms have their electrons stripped off in the Tandem van de Graaff accelerator. The atoms are subjected to such strong electric fields that the positive nuclei and negative electrons are pulled apart.


Response to comment:


See http://isnap.nd.edu/research/facility/accelerator/ for a few more details on how the atoms can have their electrons stripped off (this is a different accelerator from the one at the RHIC). You start with singly ionised atoms. These are easily made e.g. by shining ultraviolet light on the atoms. The singly ionised atoms are accelerated to a high speed than crashed into a very thin carbon sheet. The heavy nuclei plough straight through while the electrons are scattered, and the nuclei are then accelerated away with a second electric field.


No comments:

Post a Comment

classical mechanics - Moment of a force about a given axis (Torque) - Scalar or vectorial?

I am studying Statics and saw that: The moment of a force about a given axis (or Torque) is defined by the equation: $M_X = (\vec r \times \...