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Physics

Ground State Energy

Quick fact

The ground state energy of a hydrogen atom is -13.6 eV, which means it would take that much energy to strip the electron away, but the electron itself always retains a minimum kinetic energy due to quantum fluctuations.

Why this is interesting

Imagine if you could drain all thermal energy from a particle until it's 'completely still' – in the quantum world, that's impossible. Why does every atom have a minimum energy it can never lose?