Where does an electron get its power from?

Question

Electrons have a mass and therefore to me it seems they disobey the law of conservation of energy.Were do they get the energy from why do they not slow down and come to a stop.

Answer 1

an object in motion stays in motion until acted upon. electrons never touch anything. they can repel an attract, but that cant stop an electron. it can only speed it up or change its direction. the conservation of energy is the exact reason why they dont slow down.

Answer 2

Electrons have the same kind of energy as all mass has: kinetic (KE = 1/2 mv^2) and relativistic (E = mc^2).  And that energy is conserved.  Take the Zeeman Effect for example:

At one energy level E = ke + mc.  Pump some energy into the electron and we have E' = ke + mc + we where E' > E.  We can pump the energy into it by EM forces.  This addition energy causes the ke to increase so that E' = KE + mc and KE > ke and the electron assumes a probability distribution closer to the core atom.

This excited state E' is too much to handle; so the electron quickly resumes its old probability distribution farther out.  In doing this, it release that extra energy, the energy put into it, as radiation.  

Thus we find E' - E = hf; where h is Planck's constant and f is the frequency of the radiation.  And that frequency can be observed as spectral lines.  The lines are due to the Zeeman Effect.  If the electrons did not conserve energy, there would be no lines.

The point is...energy is conserved...without exception.

Answer 3

An electron does not need more energy.

The sum of potential and kinetic energy remains constant because it moves around the nucleus at constant speed (so constant kinetic energy) and at the same (almost) circular path (so potential energy remains constant)

Answer 4

Why do you think they don't obey conservation of energy?

They do. They can get excited to a higher energy level by external effects, such as the chemical reactions in a battery.

They are moving, as all particles and atoms are moving, because they are not at absolute zero temperature, and therefore they have thermal energy.

Dimit: electrons do not move around the nucleus, that went out long ago with the introduction (and acceptance) of quantum mechanics.

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