Dr. Joseph Macek:
ORNL Division of Physics;
UT Department of Physics and Astronomy
Atomic disintegration, despite its reputation, is a part of everyday life. Just snap on the fluorescent lights in your office and thousands of tiny explosions occur as electrons collide with atoms in gas-filled tubes. Without those bursts of energy you'd get no illumination because as the atoms break apart they radiate their energy to a fluorescent coating on the walls of the tube, which gives off visible light.
Theory builder Joseph Macek delves into the difficult mysteries of atomic fragmentation, most especially those unlikely occasions when atoms break into three or more charged pieces. His mathematical models recently explained how an electron's repellant force can be responsible for pushing one of two expelled electrons back inside an atom.
In a collision where two electrons are slammed off of an atom, both electrons appear, at first, to be escaping. But, because electrons rarely fly away at equal speeds or angles, one will usually get ahead of the other. As the farthermost electron moves away from the atom's binding force, it gains a second advantage. Now, its repellent force, which drives it away from the other electron, pushes it even further from the atom. This same repellant force, however, has the opposite effect on the slower moving electron, pushing it back, until it is caught and held, once again, by the atom's binding force.
Macek's models clarify the physical mechanisms underlying atomic structure and process observed during experimentation.
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