How do electrons get affected by relativity?
Do electrons travel at speeds that relativity significantly comes into play?
What speeds do electrons travel in various environments? (Room temperature, the sun, electron gun, fusion reactor, particle accelerator, etc.)
Do they hit the speed limit? Do they stretch? How do they experience time? How is their mass affected? Are other properties affected by relativity? Does their electric charge force fluctuate along with mass?
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Because no one else has answered… electrons are extremely light weight and so travel very very fast, similar to neutrinos. However quantum mechanics comes into play, so their velocity is not exactly certain or even well-defined. FYI I’m a mathematician, not a physicist and I await a better answer.
https://phys.org/news/2010-11-relativity-electrons-biologist.html
”On determining whether electrons [emphasis mine] can surpass the speed of light, Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity [emphasis mine] contends that electrons are prevented from exceeding the speed of light as a result of the relativity of time. But Wayne contends that Einstein didn’t take the environment through which the electrons move into account.
“Given the prominence of viscous forces within and around cells and the experience of identifying and quantifying such resistive forces, biophysical cell biologists have an unique perspective in discovering the viscous forces that cause moving particles to respond to an applied force in a nonlinear manner,” he explained. “Consequently, light itself prevents charged particles from moving faster than the speed of light.
Wayne will publish a related paper, “The Relativity of Simultaneity: An Analysis Based on the Properties of Electromagnetic Waves,” in a forthcoming volume of the African Physical Review, which is a juried publication.”
I don’t know what that means so I don’t know if it answers the question.
I do not understand the question. Relativity implies an observer. Particle
accelerators accelerate the nucleus’ of atoms, not electrons. (generally)
Are you able to use Lorentz transformations to mathematically get a view
of relativity?
Electrons jump to different orbits in an atom… instantaneously. Time does
not change during the jump. We don’t know how, yet the theory behind
this (quantum theory) is the most tested and applied in the modern world.
What is the question? Electrons have no mass at rest. Like photons.
And yet if stars talk each other using using light (photons) they do so
in real time like you and me chatting at a bar… tho they might be hundreds
of light years away from each other. How? Beats the shit outa me!
I’ll have another pint.
@WhyNow Did that come from a reliable source? Maybe post a link?
^^You mean the bit about stars talking to each? That is me romanticizing stars.
You mean the bit about real time? Well the source(s) are numerous over many
years. Time stops for photons at speed of light.
Time also stops, from our relative prospective, for any matter on the event
horizon of black holes. Physics as we know it depends on these things.
Physics did break down at the points above. BUT quantum mechanics rescued
us. The end results is we have no idea!
A new theory insists that the universe molds itself to fit our observations.
This nutty school of thought passed relentless peer review.
Crazy shit for sure! I can hardly wait for whats next.
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