# help me visualize an electron.. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 14, 2003, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-visualize-an-electron/168522 "2003-04-14T00:46:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![busterpickle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@busterpickle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/busterpickle)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-visualize-an-electron/168522/1 "2003-04-14T00:46:51Z")
I am having a problem with this… I want to make a web page and use an electron as a logo… but, other than the typical diffused spheroid with a negative sing in it I cant come up with much. ---
**Author:** ![billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-visualize-an-electron/168522/2 "2003-04-14T00:59:22Z")
You have a lot of artistic freedom on this one as no-one knows what an electron looks like. They can’t even tell you where to find one sure. If you can find someway to make a ball look like a wave, and then show it constrained near a proton by force lines, then you have it I think. What ever you come up with, I think it should come equipped with arms and a face like the paperclip MicroSoft uses. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-visualize-an-electron/168522/3 "2003-04-14T01:02:51Z")
Well, the classical Rutherfordian electron was a light gray sphere with a dark gray **e[sup]-[/sup]** painted on it. If rendered on a computer, you could see light sources reflected on the electron’s surface. They orbited the nucleus on yellow, ribbon-like orbitals. Relativistic electrons have red lines coming out of them to mark their path, or maybe even fire like an object entering the atmosphere. For highly relativistic electrons, the lines were blue. ---
**Author:** ![j\_kat\_251](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@j\_kat\_251](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_kat_251)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-visualize-an-electron/168522/4 "2003-04-14T01:08:27Z")
They’re anywhere from 3 to 9 inches long, hard, and… what? Oh, sorry. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-visualize-an-electron/168522/5 "2003-04-14T01:42:50Z")
You’re better off thinking of something creative and artistic, rather than realistic. As billy said, no one has any idea what an electron looks like. In fact, the question has no meaning in the quantum scheme of things. ---
**Author:** ![g8rguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@g8rguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/g8rguy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-visualize-an-electron/168522/6 "2003-04-14T02:07:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Achernar \* > \*\*Well, the classical Rutherfordian electron was a light gray sphere with a dark gray **e[sup]-[/sup]** painted on it. If rendered on a computer, you could see light sources reflected on the electron’s surface. They orbited the nucleus on yellow, ribbon-like orbitals. Relativistic electrons have red lines coming out of them to mark their path, or maybe even fire like an object entering the atmosphere. For highly relativistic electrons, the lines were blue. \*\* 🙂 And I thought **I** was a smartass… ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-visualize-an-electron/168522/7 "2003-04-14T02:55:32Z")
Electrons in atoms and molecules hang out in oddly shaped probability clouds called orbitals. Here are some nice pictures of [hybrid orbitals](http://images.google.com/images?q=+%22hybrid+orbitals%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&as_qdr=all&sa=N&tab=wi). More pictures are available under [Molecular orbitals](http://images.google.com/images?q=+%22molecular+orbitals%22&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&as_qdr=all&start=20&sa=N). -Light gray sphere… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-visualize-an-electron/168522/8 "2003-04-14T05:25:30Z")
Electrons aren’t really _there_ the way balls and bricks are there. They exist as probabilities, and can therefore `exist’ at any point in space at once. It works like this: If a scientist takes a hydrogen atom, he knows he only has one electron to work with. By reading up on his theory and mesuring how excited that atom is, he knows where in relation to the proton the orbit is. But that’s a spherical shell with a set radius and thickness, not a point. He can measure _any point_ within that orbit and have _n_ percent chance of seeing that proton. _Period._ It isn’t as if the electron rushed to meet him. The electron exists at every point at once, and when he `collapses the waveform' by measuring it at a certain point, the electron `chooses,’ based on the probability at that point, whether or not to appear. No travel is involved, just probabilites. Short answer: You can’t model an electron, you can only model orbits. ---
**Author:** ![busterpickle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@busterpickle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/busterpickle)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-visualize-an-electron/168522/9 "2003-04-14T05:46:12Z")
this is an artisitic endeavor… you will have to indulge me and my quest to visualize an atom. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-visualize-an-electron/168522/10 "2003-04-14T05:55:38Z")
A pretty good way to visualize an atom is a small pinpoint (representing the nucleus) surrounded at some distance by a grey `donut’ that fades around the edges (representing the electron shell). There: A hydrogen atom in cross-section. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-visualize-an-electron/168522/11 "2003-04-14T06:16:22Z")
Can’t you just use a bee as your logo, instead? They’re much simpler. ---
**Author:** ![LtningBug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/73ab20/32.png) [@LtningBug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LtningBug)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-visualize-an-electron/168522/12 "2003-04-15T03:19:41Z")
How about a little black sphere (maybe with an e[sup]-[/sup] label) being ‘chased’ by a zagging yellow lightning bolt (indicating the electron’s involvement in electricity)? Or maybe a sphere with a frowny face (that is, a negative sphere : :mad:, whereas the proton would be 🙂 ). ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Joe\_Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Random)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-visualize-an-electron/168522/13 "2003-04-15T03:31:23Z")
Well, if this is an artistic endeavor, then you should probably just stick to the standard electron-as-spheres-orbiting-the-nucleus model that most people are familiar with. Because unless you’re aiming at a very specific crowd, most “average” people aren’t very aware of orbitals or particle/wave duality. \ Two atoms were walking down the street one day, just chatting and generally minding their own business. Suddenly, out of nowhere, an ion rushes up and bumps into one of the atoms. The ion offers his apologies, and then hurries on his way. A moment later, the atom that was bumped into exclaims, “Hey! I think that ion was a pickpocket! He just stole one of my electrons!” Asked his friend, “Are you sure?” The first atom thought for a moment, and then said, “Yeah, I’m positive!” \ ---
**Author:** ![g8rguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@g8rguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/g8rguy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-visualize-an-electron/168522/14 "2003-04-15T04:43:03Z")
A neutron walks into a bar, orders a beer. Asks the bartender how much it’ll be. Bartender says “for you, no charge.” :wince: ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-visualize-an-electron/168522/15 "2003-04-15T08:25:38Z")
Well, you can’t see them because they’re smaller than light waves. And then there’s the issue that you can’t know both the position and the momentum, (IANA physicist, but that’s the basic gist of Heisenberg, right?) and its implications… So make it a little sphere with a cartoony face and lightning-bolt ears. ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-visualize-an-electron/168522/16 "2003-04-15T11:51:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by j\_kat\_251 \* > \*\*They’re anywhere from 3 to 9 inches long, hard, and… what? > \*\* No, no, no!! They are **leptons** ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-visualize-an-electron/168522/17 "2003-04-15T13:03:22Z")
Is that a photon in your pants, or are you just happy to C me?