Electron wave/nucleus
A cloud of electrons
Electrons travel at an estimated 2.2 million miles/hour (3.6 million km/hour or 1 million m/sec)*. This means that each microsecond, an electron has travelled 1 meter.
Those infinitesimally small subatomic particles with their phenomenal speed create an actual dense presence around the nucleus. Just like our ant in a white box, the electrons can show up in the same spot billions of times in a microsecond - as long as that electron stays at the same energy level within the atom.
*Of note, sometimes speeds of 5,000 km/sec have been measured.
The s-orbital
For a hydrogen atom with one electron, a virtual electron cloud is uniformly distributed around the nucleus. Very small and fast systems like those of electrons superimpose their different positions one on top of one another.
A composite reality develops that is made up of clusters of electrons.
For example, if the hydrogen atom’s only electron were a soldier guarding the center part of the atom, the nucleus can rest easy. That soldier forms a dense layer of infantry in a microsecond timeframe. During that single microsecond, the soldier has stood at attention in almost all positions around the nucleus thousands of times.
To put it in perspective, if one took images of that soldier stationed around the nucleus each femtosecond (a millionth of a billionth of a second) over the time span of 1 microsecond (a millionth of a second), we would get a billion frames with the soldier at different positions around the nucleus. If we played those images over a whole day (~11,500 images each second), the images would show a thick army of soldiers encircling the nucleus.
As we play this imaginary video, we would not see an even distribution of soldiers. There would be a blur of soldiers that have variable density at different times of the day; sometimes the soldiers would be more thickly crowded at the 1 o’clock position, sometimes at the 4 o’clock position and so on.
One electron forming a cloud
This cloud of electrons is the atomic s-orbital. Keep in mind that this is only one electron creating this "cloud".
What the nucleus “feels” is a spherical cocoon of electrons that are humming continuously in the atmosphere above it. A nanoscale creature standing to one side would see a blur of movement that darkens an area above the nucleus; then another area would darken, then still another. One dark blur moves quickly from place to place.
What we “feel” in our real world time frame - if we could touch that blur of electrons - is a wall of electrons blanketing the nucleus. This "solid" layer of electrons in that s-orbital encircles the nucleus.
It is our electrons, with their virtually continuous and ultrafast motion - in the femtosecond range (10^-15 second) - that shepherd molecular restructuring, nudging other atoms' electrons to preferred positions.
Picture credits:
- By dani3315. Electron Cloud Surrounding The Nucleus Of An Atom, ID: 1327336742.
- By korkeng. Vector abstract circle frame with wave lines pattern flowing in blue green colors isolated on black background in concept of music, technology, ID: 1331040437.
- By Vink Fan. Glowing lines and creative geometries, 3d rendering. Computer digital drawing, ID: 1554692297.