Neutral Atoms Behave Much Like Classical Spherical Capacitors
January 2006
James C. Ellenbogen, The MITRE Corporation
ABSTRACT
The scaling of the capacitance with radius is explored in detail for neutral atoms, and it is
found that they behave much like macroscopic spherical capacitors. The quantum capacitances of
atoms scale as a linear function of the mean radii of their highest occupied orbitals. The slopes
of the linear scaling lines include a dimensionless constant of proportionality κ that is somewhat
analogous to a dielectric constant, but for individual atoms. The slope and κ assume discrete values
characteristic of elements in different regions of the periodic table. These observations provide a
different, electrostatics-based way of understanding the periodic behavior of the elements.
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