How long does it take the electron in a hydrogen atom to travel one orbit of the nucleus? Or how many orbits would it complete in one second?
by 
Schroeder
ANSWERS: 2
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The Bohr model of the atom (the one that shows electrons orbiting the atomic nucleus like planets orbiting a star) is a useful tool for illustrating some aspects of atomic structure; however, it IS NOT an accurate depiction of how electrons actually move relative to the nucleus. Electrons do not orbit the nucleus like that. In reality, the position of electrons in time relative to the nucleus of an atom is described by probability functions called atomic orbitals. I will try to find a good introductory site that describes atomic orbitals and post it here. http://www.chemguide.co.uk/atoms/properties/atomorbs.html This might be a bit more than you're looking for, but it is really cool: http://daugerresearch.com/orbitals/index.shtml And later, when you get to hybrid orbitals (when you learn more about bonding and molecular geometry), this site is definitely worth checking out too: http://www.mhhe.com/physsci/chemistry/essentialchemistry/flash/hybrv18.swf And for the mother lode of atomic orbital resources: http://heybryan.org/~bbishop/search/AP_Chemistry/atomic%20orbitals.html
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Based on your comment, I think I understand your question better. Maybe Planck Time would be useful to you. "The Planck length is the scale at which classical ideas about gravity and space-time cease to be valid, and quantum effects dominate. This is the ‘quantum of length’, the smallest measurement of length with any meaning. And roughly equal to 1.6 x 10-35 m or about 10-20 times the size of a proton. The Planck time is the time it would take a photon travelling at the speed of light to across a distance equal to the Planck length. This is the ‘quantum of time’, the smallest measurement of time that has any meaning, and is equal to 10-43 seconds. No smaller division of time has any meaning. With in the framework of the laws of physics as we understand them today, we can say only that the universe came into existence when it already had an age of 10-43 seconds." http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae281.cfm?CFID=12669626&CFTOKEN=12546486
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