A really dumb question! Well, by asking really dumb questions, the greatest minds in science have made the greatest advances. No joke. That is for real. That is how it happens.
As others have said, electrons can't actually orbit or circle the nucleus. If they did, all their energy would quickly radiate away.
Quantum mechanics seems to say that an electron is described by what is called a wave function which assigns to every point
in the entire universe a probability of finding that electron at that point. The electron can not be said to actually be at any of those points with complete certainty, although it is a lot more likely to be near that atom than across the universe in a distant galaxy. But both those locations and ALL others are possible: there really is a very small possibility that it really is in one of those distant galaxies. It is only when we devise a means of observing it's position that the wave function is said to "collapse" to a single point or small area where the electron then "decides" to be observed. It does not rotate in any orbit. It does not move from point to point in any manner. It only has a probability of being found at each point when we cause the wave function to "collapse" by actually observing it's position. In a way, it is the act of observing that causes it to have a specific location; otherwise it really does not.
Now, if you find that hard to understand, you are not alone. I find it hard to understand. Physicists find it hard to understand. People like Einstein and Hawking found it hard to understand. And they spent hours, days, weeks, and years asking really dumb questions about it. Einstein was said to have said that "God does not play dice with the Universe". Steven Hawking is said to have responded that "Not only does God play dice, but He sometimes throws them where they can not be seen." Two great minds and two completely different views as to how the universe works. And I suspect that newer views will come along showing both of them to be at least somewhat if not completely incorrect.
And that is the real nature of science. Different views. Different theories. Discussion about those theories. Dumb questions asked about them. Experiments are devised to make observations. And then new views. New theories. Science is NEVER settled. And those who say it is are the real dummies. That's a very, VERY,
VERY important concept: science is NEVER settled.
Never!In the end it is the dumbest questions, perhaps I should say the simplest questions that produce the most remarkable results. So, keep asking them.
Usually we are told that electrons "orbit" the nucleus. Like electrons are particles that move in 3D paths.
Isn't that a persistent current?
Is space a superconductor? As long as there's strain in the fabric from the positive nucleus?
I don't get it.
I'm probably being what The Great Gazoo would call a dumdum.