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Physics question i'd like answered

When someone says that electrons "vibrate", what do they really mean?
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Avatar for mik1a
mik1a
10
I'm not really sure what they mean. What's the context?
Original post by Zara S Taylor
When someone says that electrons "vibrate", what do they really mean?


I've never heard of an electron vibrate but I've heard of them wobbling in London dispersion forces.


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Ed5
14
As far as I know, there wasn't any mention of electrons "vibrating" during AQA AS physics last year. If it isn't in the textbook, don't worry about it!

If you're curious though, they are probably referencing quantum mechanics - the concept that particles are "delocalized" when unmeasured. This means that they can't be thought of to have a definite position, as they exist in a superposition of multiple positions at once. Instead, we think of the particle as a "cloud" of probability of where it could be.

If you want to read more, find some articles on "atomic orbitals".

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