Re: What happens to an atom if the electrons are stopped

Interesting question. First we must think of the electrons around the nucleus not as point-like particles but as particles which have both wave and particle behaviour.

The orbits an electron describes around the nucleus are probabilistic, that is: there is no way you could know if an electron is at x at a time t; all you know is the probability p of finding the electron at x at a given time. The orbits are also quantized which means that they occur in discrete steps.

The wavelength of the wave is related to the speed of the associated particle. Furthermore, for a particle going around a circle, the speed of the particle is related to the force - remember that a force must exist because the direction of motion is constantly changing. This force, which is the electrical force of attraction between the electron and proton, in turn depends on the radius of the orbit. Ultimately, what happens is that the condition for a standing wave pattern is a condition on the radius of the orbit which can be satisfied only by certain values.

I think we can build an answer for you from above as follows: If the electron stops it is only because the force has vanished, which can mean two things:

• the electron is not part of an atom, or
• you were able to compensate the electron-nucleus interaction at a given time (the electron would behave then as a free particle, not being part of the atom anymore)

So, as long as the electron belongs to an atom you can't stop it. In the hypothetical case that you might stop it, the electron will no longer be part of the atom and the amount of energy required to stop it would be the same required to take it off. In other words what you would get if you stop the electron would be an ionized atom.