Dear sir

1) If you are thinking about an atom inside a solid.

The atom is connected to its neighbours via attractive forces that you can visualise as springs. Du to finite temperature, these atoms contain kinetic energy that is stored as vibrations. The vibration frequencies are set by the mass of the atoms, the stiffness of the springs and the temperature. In solids these vibrations are called phonons.

2) If you are thinking about an electron in an atom.

The simplest understanding is wave mechanics from de Broglie. A wave is associated to any material particle as an electron. The energy of an electron (kinetic and potential) in an atom results as a rotation of the electron around the kernel. This orbit is stable only if the length of the orbit is an integer number of the half wavelength of the electron. The fixes the rotation frequency.

Hope it helps

They are? Wow! perhaps they don't know better...

Please tell us how an atom can vibrate. Vibration is caused by a force that connects 2 items. An atom is a single item.

Dear sir

1) If you are thinking about an atom inside a solid.

The atom is connected to its neighbours via attractive forces that you can visualise as springs. Du to finite temperature, these atoms contain kinetic energy that is stored as vibrations. The vibration frequencies are set by the mass of the atoms, the stiffness of the springs and the temperature. In solids these vibrations are called phonons.

2) If you are thinking about an electron in an atom.

The simplest understanding is wave mechanics from de Broglie. A wave is associated to any material particle as an electron. The energy of an electron (kinetic and potential) in an atom results as a rotation of the electron around the kernel. This orbit is stable only if the length of the orbit is an integer number of the half wavelength of the electron. The fixes the rotation frequency.

Hope it helps

Charles

It is very nice of you to fill in his question, but at a scientific forum the one who asks the question should be able to define his question in a scientific way. As it is now I at least have no clue what is meant with "naturally vibrating atoms". Obviously the questioneer is at a university so it is not too much too ask him to formulate hos question in a scientific manner

Harry,

It has been my pleasure trying to help Sabarikischwaran to clarify his question.

But he did not react yet?

No, as you did observe.

Charles

It is really very inpolite of many of the questioneers (my guess is at least half of them) that they never give a reaction on the replies. This is an example

Harry, Chuck, true; they often don't. Part of (local?) culture -- no value is given to the knowledge or help received; you give, they take, bye...

Charles & Oliver, answering this question has indirectly helped me. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

Dear Charles,

I want to determine the vibration frequency of atoms in glass at room temperature. For Spring-Mass system, frequency f=1/2π √(k/m). I am wondering how the effect of temperature can be considered in the frequency formula. Is the bond stiffness 'k' should be a function of temperature? I would appreciate your comments. Thank you.

Dear Sanjib,

I went too fast and and remained in a classical thinking mode.

Phonons are the quanta of the vibrational energy of atoms in solids. These quanta energies are distribution along dispersion curves that do depend on the mass, the binding forces with the neighbours and the symmetries that apply in the solid.

Ab initio techniques are used to calculate phonon dispersion curves in crystalline solids. One calculates the total energy of the crystal at rest and in an out-of-equilibrium position that reflects the symmetries. The energy difference gives the phonon energy. Knowing the energy one knows the frequency E=hbar omega. This is a very specialized theoretical field.

In a glass the symmetry properties are lost, You may use the following image. Suppose you know the dispersion curve of the phonons in a crystal. Suppose that you double the basic cell of the crystal because of local disorder, then the Brillouin zone will be divided by two and the curves will be folded to this smaller zone (see the joint figure (left) for clarity). If you infinitely perform this folding process, as you expend the disorder in the crystal, you will end in the zone centre with the density of the phonon states of the glass resulting from the disordering of the starting crystal.

I still keep in view that your concern is about temperature. At room temperature the atomic vibration do not depend on the temperature. What depends on the temperature is the number of phonons in their states. Phonons obey Bose-Einstein statistics (see the right part of the joint figure) . On the right part of the figure you will see the temperature variation for a given phonon frequency. This calculation can be performed for all the phonon frequencies.

Hope it helps