G
Guillotine
Guest
Does the ground state mean how the atom of an element will be found in nature? If not what does this mean?
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C
Colin K
Guest
Not necessarily. Ground state means "uncharged." Alot of the time you find elements in ionized states in nature, like Cl-.
E
Eleanor
Guest
you are correct
J
Jit K
Guest
The ground state of a quantum mechanical system is its lowest-energy state. An excited state is any state with energy greater than the ground state. The ground state of a quantum field theory is usually called the vacuum state or the vacuum.
That took all of 10 seconds
That took all of 10 seconds
B
Booga373
Guest
what do you know about media?
B
Biofreak
Guest
The ground state is the lowest energy state for a given system (and atoms are an example of a system). Since it is the lowest energy state, systems are generally more likely to be in the ground state than any other state and when they are in excited states, they will often decay back to the ground state.
However, when the energy difference between the ground state and the excited states is small compared to the temperature, then you would expect the system to be found in some mixture of the ground state and the excited states. There are also some excited states that are so long lived (some can be live longer than the age of the universe) that they will practically never decay back to the ground state. So you can find situations where you don't find systems in their ground state in nature. In fact, the only way to ensure a system will be in its ground state is to cool the system to absolute zero, which is impossible.
However, when the energy difference between the ground state and the excited states is small compared to the temperature, then you would expect the system to be found in some mixture of the ground state and the excited states. There are also some excited states that are so long lived (some can be live longer than the age of the universe) that they will practically never decay back to the ground state. So you can find situations where you don't find systems in their ground state in nature. In fact, the only way to ensure a system will be in its ground state is to cool the system to absolute zero, which is impossible.
A
andrenine00
Guest
Ground state is what it is in the lowest energy state. Atoms will naturally want to lose energy, so this is usually how the elements will be found in nature.
Yes.
Yes.