The energy of an atom... What does it mean ?
Atoms are curious little things, don't you think? At school, you might remember your teacher saying that an atom had energy without really understanding what it meant. You applied the formulas, passed the exam (or not ;-) ), and then forgot all about it.
Much later, you might have asked yourself questions about atoms, and what the teacher meant when he talked about their energy.
This first video episode of the Atomic Physics Series dives deep into this concept of energy, and describes how it can be derived into the sum of Potential and Kinetic Energies (it defines these guys too).
It also explains the difference between the concepts of mechanical energy and Internal energy.
And then the video concludes that when someone mentions the energy of an atom, he or she is talking about the atom's internal energy.
But, it actually digs deeper and analyses where this energy comes from, and realizes that the energy of an atom is actually the energy of its electrons.
I hope you enjoy the video and animations as much as I had fun making them!
This series contains 4 videos:
Episode 2: "What is light", that describes how an atom can gain or lose energy.
Episode 3: "Energy levels of an atom", that explains that the energy of an atom can only take specific values. This shows why atoms can be characterized by their emission or absorbtion spectra.
Episode 4 derives the energy of an atom and proves with algebra only (no calculus) what is proposed in episodes 1 and 3.
If you enjoyed this episode, please follow me so you can see the next episodes in your feed when I publish them on Steemit. I will also attempt to post them soon on D-Tube.
Friezes and the main illustration are based on illustrations found on Pixabay.
Hi,
I’m @muphy,
My life revolves around music production, teaching sciences, and discovery through travel.
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