Definition:Electron Cloud
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Physical Law
Within an atom, an electron is not a stationary point charge.
According to quantum mechanics, it is not possible to determine the actual position of an electron at any specific instant of time.
Instead, it is more realistic to consider an electron as "smeared out" in an electron cloud around the nucleus.
Sources
- 1990: I.S. Grant and W.R. Phillips: Electromagnetism (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $1$: Force and energy in electrostatics: $1.3$ Electric Fields in Matter: $1.3.1$ The atomic charge density