Can an atom be stable?
There is a theory that states that the field model of an atom cannot be stable since a charged particle (the electron in this case) radiates when it accelerates. Unlike photon energy, this radiated energy is broadband. An electron in a circular orbit undergoes centripetal acceleration, and hence the circular orbit of an electron in an atom will decay. The basis for this theory is that a charged particle radiates electromagnetic energy in an accelerating frame, increasing the work done to accelerate it – that is, its inertia is increased. If you are interested in the details you can search out Radiation Reaction on the web – although dont be surprised if you come up with something quite unrelated! However, it is not necessary to know the maths to find the flaw in the theory. There is no absolute viewpoint in space – what is acceleration from one viewpoint is deceleration from another, so whatever happens during acceleration must also happen during deceleration. So if an electron radiate
