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Atom flies into deep space. Will it radiate heat and stop eventually?

Physics Asked by danbst on September 3, 2021

If an atom flies long enough into deep space, without colliding any other matter or EM waves (purely thoughtful experiment), what does happen?

  1. Because velocity vector is unchanged, no EM waves are generated, so no energy is lost and atom continues the travel eternally.
  2. Electrons spin around nucleus and thus generate EM field and somehow emit photons. This somehow (how?) causes kinetic energy decline and atom eventually stops (absolute zero).
  3. Electrons spin around nucleus and atom loses potential energy with photons, but this doesn’t affect kinetic energy. So atom continues to fly eternally, but internally reaches zero potential energy and electrons collapse with nucleus.

So far the most plausible is (1), but I can’t understand why Wikipedia says that all matter loses energy with radiation.

All normal (baryonic) matter emits electromagnetic radiation when it has a temperature above absolute zero. The radiation represents a conversion of a body’s internal energy into electromagnetic energy, and is therefore called thermal radiation. It is a spontaneous process of radiative distribution of entropy.

I’m trying to understand why this radiation is produces in matter.

One Answer

If the atom is in the ground state it will not radiate and eternally move with the same energy and momentum, provided no nuclear reaction happens. If it is in an excited state it will decay first, which will alter its energy and momentum. After that it will continue with its final energy and momentum.

There no such thing as the temperature of a single atom and any radiation it emits cannot be considered to be thermal.

Correct answer by my2cts on September 3, 2021

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