Hobbies And Interests
Electric Fields
Because electrons have electric fields, they are moved by other electric fields. The fields of other electrons repel them. The fields of protons, which have positive charges, attract them. If other electrons are brought near an electron, it will start moving away from them. If protons are bought near an electron, that electron will start approaching them.
Magnetic Fields
Magnetic fields are generated by moving electric charges. Because of this, magnetic fields can affect the motions of electrons. If a magnetic field is created around a moving electron, it creates a new motion in that electron that is at right angles to both its previous motion and the direction of the magnetic field.
Photons and Free Electrons
An electron that is not bound to an atom is called a free electron. A photon is a particle of light or some other kind of electromagnetic wave such as an x-ray. When a free electron is struck by a photon, the electron absorbs the photon and emits another photon with a longer wavelength and less energy and momentum. The electron recoils away from this new photon. This kind of electron propagation is called "Compton scattering."
Electron Orbits and Absorption
When an electron is bound to an atom, it occupies one of the orbits around the nucleus of that atom. The orbit the electron occupies depends upon its energy. The more energy the electron has, the higher the orbit it occupies and the further from the nucleus it is. When a photon with the right amount of energy hits a bound electron, it causes that electron to jump from its current orbit to a higher orbit.
Electron Orbits and Emission
Bound electrons will also spontaneously move from a higher orbit to a lower one. When this occurs, they emit photons with enough energy to cause them to fall into lower orbits. A bound electron can only emit or absorb photons with exactly enough energy to allow them to jump to higher or lower orbits. Bound electrons will not be moved by photons with any excess energy.