Quantum Vibrations

Many people say that the atoms in any substance keep on vibrating from their mean position.My question is that "What will happen if the atoms stop their motion or if they stop vibrating!"..What is the effect on the substance or the object?
- Prudhvi Raj Borra (age 17)
Machilipatnam,Andhra Pradesh,India

This is a bit tricky, because the classical pictures we tend to use give false impressions of small-scale objects. The sort of quantum state which has no vibrational motion is also a state which is infinitely spread out, so it wouldn't form anything like the type of object you're picturing. The electrons and protons of atoms, for example, would not be bound if there were no relative motion.

Mike W.

(published on 07/12/2010)