Using the Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, can you prove that electron can never exist in nucleus?

1 Answer
Apr 19, 2015

The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle can't explain that an electron can't exist in the nucleus.

The principle states that if the velocity of an electron is found the position is unknown and vice versa.

However we know the electron can't be found in the nucleus because then an atom would first of all be neutral if no electrons are removed which is the same as electrons at a distance from the nucleus, but it would be extremely difficult to remove the electrons where as now it is relatively easy to remove valence electrons (outer electrons). And there would be no empty space surrounding the atom, so Rutherford's Gold Leaf experiment wouldn't have gotten the results it did, eg space caused particles to travel straight through, unaffected.

Hope I helped :)