A lot of text books mention that one of the reasons that classical mechanics failed to explain atomic and subatomic processes is that electrons which accelerate should release energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation, which would lower the atoms overall energy level, but this does not happen. One place where I discovered this, for example, is in the description for the Bohr model.
What I don't understand is why everyone takes for granted the fact that the electron is accelerating. I thought the electron orbits the nucleus at a, more or less, constant velocity. Are people referring to specific situations when the atom is excited? Furthermore, I was under the impression that electrons already travel at the fastest allowable speed, the speed of light.
Best Answer
In uniform circular motion: $a=\frac{v^2}{r}$