Science Forums 2

[hallenrm]

Originally Posted by Little Bang

Suppose we had a universe that contained only two atoms of hydrogen, separated by a few meters. Would there be a force between them that would cause them to come together and form diatomic hydrogen?

I think that the possibility of the two atoms coming together to for a molecule will depend pn the energy with which they come close to one another. Once they are in rather close proximity, of the order of a few atomic radii, the probability of their forming a molecule will depend on the probability of the electrons to be on the opposite sides of the two atoms so that the coulombic attraction between the positive charge (on the protons) and the negative charge on the electron is the dominant force.