hey /b/, why is almost all blackbody radiation in the infrared range? More to the point, why is everything constantly throwing off photons all the time anyway?
basically when an atom becomes excited, through heating, electrical exitment, etc, the electron that has become excited will relax, releasing a photon in the process. is this enough detail, or do you want more infos?
Basically my question is why does increased movement of atoms/molecules put the electrons into higher orbits? I'm totally onboard with electrons absorbing photons and then shedding them later to drop into a stable orbit, my question is about how kinetic energy relates to electron orbits.
good question. I've done some research into this and havnt been able to come up with a satisfactory answer. I have my own personal theories, but...that's my own stuff, I can't prove it. I would suggest posting this in /sci/, though. there may be somone there who knows the answer.
any help, /sci/?
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Anonymous2006-01-31 23:54
The kenetic energy of an atom is a bit of a confusing thing. Although one way to calculate it is through the standard KE=(1/2)MV^2 relation (or, more specifically through the relativistic version of that relation), you have to keep in mind that the rules of quantum mechanics also apply at that scale. When dealing with atoms, kenetic energy of the atom does not just refer to the relation of the mass and velocity of the atom but also to the energy-state of that atom. Think of it as two sides to the same coin. One way to visualize it is to consider that whenever an object is heated there must be some mechanism for the transfer of the heat. Conduction and convection both transfer heat through molecular contact, but if you look at molecular contact at a quantum-mechanical scale you have an electromagnetic interaction. In order for one particle to excite (move) another, the electrons in the energetic particle emit photons that interact with the electrons in the less energetic particle. In the case of radiative heating, it's a quantum-mechanical process from the get-go. Basically, it's not that the movement of the atoms causes the electrons to jump energy levels, but that the jumping of energy levels causes atomic movement to change.
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Anonymous2006-02-01 1:01
atoms can have loads of electrons at different distances fro man atom, even a hydrogen atom can have more than 1 electron if it is part of a negatively charged material. The electrons occupy shells of differnet distances from the nucleus which they share with 1 more electron, when an electron gets excited it goes up one shell, sometimes the electorn escapes, but usually it snaps back down again to it's original position.
this super quick movement in the electric field of the electron causes a magnetic field to be produced, which in turn creates an electric field perpendicular to it. The 2 fields oscillate in relation to each other and move out at the speed of light. Which is why the speed of gravity and the speed of light are the same as light is essentially a field.
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Anonymous2006-02-01 18:33
This is the first time that I've ever heard of the 'speed of gravity'.
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Anonymous2006-02-02 3:26
>>4
I read an article once about how any object with a non-constant acceleration generates gravity waves. Naturally these waves must propagate with a certain speed.
However I have no idea if this is what >>3 is talking about, and if it is, why he is talking about it.
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Anonymous2006-02-02 3:47
particle physics and cosmology are like a lorenz attractor for all sorts of clueless whackos
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Anonymous2006-02-02 5:23
As far as I know, gravity is "poorly understood".
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Anonymous2006-02-02 5:29
>>4 >>5
Think of it this way: if I move, it will affect all particles around me, including you and every other atom in the universe (albeit very slightly). The change in this force is not instantanious, it takes time to propigate to you; to affect another body. This speed of propigation is closely related to the speed of light, though I am not sure of the exact relationship.
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Anonymous2006-02-02 6:40 (sage)
If gravity were faster than light, that would allow faster-than-light communication.
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Anonymous2006-02-04 18:18
>>5
Ever wonderred how light is created in the first place?
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Cyberpunk2006-02-07 0:39
Photons ARE light Anonymous, and as far as we know electrons and photons are both elementarary particles, only diffrence is electrons have mass where as photons only have velometric mass, which is why they react to gravitational fields, the intresting part is how can a elementary particle (electron) obsorb another, massless, elementary particle? this induces the idea that these particles COULD be built from more elemantary particles, personaly i'm kinda on board with the general idea of string theory although I belive string theory does describe the universe correctly, I think it is still missing some ideals, but as long as a mathmatical model perfectly describes reality, then it is reality. As stephen hawking once said.
But yeah that new particle accelerator is almost complete, and hopefully they will find the higgs particle. It should help answer some questions.
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Anonymous2006-02-07 3:23
hopefully they will find the higgs particle
I've never bought that. A particle that gives mass to other particles? Okay, so what gives that particle its mass? Bigger fleas and smaller fleas.
Personally if the math didn't suggest otherwise, I'd say the Higgs particle would join the ether and phlogiston as failed ideas in physics. Not to say that Higgs-less models don't exist, but I'll just wait for the SHC to turn on.