Can electrons at absolute zero temperature move?

[jasmin_123]

Can an electron at absolute zero temperature move in an electric field?

 

[yalanand]

I think they will....

 

[neils_arm_strong]

Yes,if there is a concentration gradient.
If you are talking about a single electron,then it will not move

 

[jasmin_123]

03 Mar 2008 18:38

 

[A.Anand Srinivasan]

i dont think it will move.... when you bring it to absolute zero then you would have drained it of all its energy....

 

[dfullmer]

Do you mean milli-kelvins or absolute zero kelvin?

Big difference!

regards

dfullmer

 

[jasmin_123]

If you drop a coin at t=0K, do the coin electrons move in the gravitation field?

 

[A.Anand Srinivasan]

actually at 0K everything would be immobile... i mean even air would have froze.... the electron wont be vibrating or revolving in the coin.... the coin as a whole would have all particles in it in fixed positions...

 

[jasmin_123]

But if the coin moves in the gravitation field, then its electrons also move, deterministically, together with the coin.

I am not able to imagine a case where a coin falls on the floor, but its electrons have a zero speed relative to the floor.

Are you able?

 

[fsahmed]

Frame of reference.... the electrons won't move w.r.t. the coin. If u were standing on the coin, u'd feel the world go up as u fall down (relative to earth), but u would not see electrons moving.

 

[jasmin_123]

But if the coin moves in the gravitation field, then its electrons also move, deterministically, together with the coin.

I am not able to imagine a case where a coin falls on the floor, but its electrons have a zero speed relative to the floor.

This means that electrons do can move at zero temp. in the gravitation field.

Similarly, they do can move at zero temp. (relative to the conductor they belong to) in the electric field.

Is not it?

 

[A.Anand Srinivasan]

the movement of electron at 0K is spoken in terms of the atom only.... that is bec movement of electron is usually spoken with respect to atom only...

 

[VVV]

I am not a quantum mechanics expert, but as far as I know, the absolute zero temperature is defined with respect to atoms. We then say that at absolute zero all motion (vibrational, etc) of ATOMS would cease. Ao all the atoms would stand still in their crystalline lattice.

But the electrons would continue to move inside the atoms, rotating around the nuclei. Otherwise they would just "fall" and crash into the nuclei. At that point you would no longer have actual atoms, so you could no longer talk about atoms and electrons as part of them. There would be no crystal, because it is the electrons that provide the bonds between the atoms in a crystal.

This whole concept of absolute zero applies to atoms only.

 

[fsahmed]

W.r.t. the floor, the coin itself would have some potential energy if it can fall.....................

 

[roadbuster]

VVV is correct. Electrons within an atom can move at absolute zero. This is a consequence of quantum mechanical theory.

In an atom, the fermions obey the Pauli Exclusion Principle of quantum states. If you assign state levels to each of the fermions, you'll end up with a certain amount of energy in the highest-occupied state (this is called the "Fermi energy"). This means that, even if you extract all the thermal energy from a conductor, the electrons within the metal can still move around. The maximum velocity of these electrons is defined by the Fermi energy, and this is called the "Fermi velocity."

If you enjoyed my response, then please help me with my ebook problem .

 

[Khabree]

I have read all above, but I think One should also look at zero resistance, when and at what temp it is possible?

"In 1997 researchers found that at a temperature very near absolute zero an alloy of gold and indium was both a superconductor........" what does this means? Is not it means that there are abundance of free electrons at that temp? That means they can MOVE freely rather more easily.

 

[muralicrl]

Hello,

Electrons can move in any temperature. Only thing is it's speed is depending on the temperature. If temperature is low its speed will be less. Whatever we have studied in the college, the speed of the electron is almost equal to velocity of the light at room temperature.

If you need more details, don't hesitate to contact me.

Regards,

N.Muralidhara
MSRS, CRL-BEL

 

[ekswamy]

Electrons at room temp. will move only with thermal velocity ( << 1 eV). It can attain 0.5c when accelerated to 50 keV.

 

[Phantom]

Source: Wiki:
------------
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconductivity
------------
>>>
Superconductivity is a phenomenon occurring in certain materials at extremely low temperatures, characterized by exactly zero electrical resistance and the exclusion of the interior magnetic field (the Meissner effect).
>>>


If you put any material at T=0K you'll get exactly zero el. resistance. And electrons will move if you'll create electric field in this material.

 

[halls]

In the ideal case where T=0 K, electrons will start moving. In the first moment where an electron begins moving, temperature raises, and is 0 kelvin no more.

In the example of the coin that Jasmine proposed, you are right Jasmine, electrons will move with the coin. The thing is that there will be more than 0 kelvin when the coin starts falling.