[105246] in Cypherpunks
Re: Forwarded mail... (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jim Choate)
Mon Nov 9 01:37:22 1998
From: Jim Choate <ravage@einstein.ssz.com>
To: cypherpunks@einstein.ssz.com (Cypherpunks Distributed Remailer)
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1998 00:20:48 -0600 (CST)
Reply-To: Jim Choate <ravage@einstein.ssz.com>
Forwarded message:
> Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1998 18:20:10 -0800
> From: Steve Schear <schear@lvcm.com>
> Subject: Re: Forwarded mail...
> >Well actualy to be absolutely exact the photon is locked between the protons
> >and the electron. It is *NEVER* gone or destroyed. You can't destroy energy,
> >only transform it's form. The photon is *NEVER* absorbed by anything.
>
> Seems like we're placing angels on the head of the pin. Its not exactly my
> understanding of QED.
Ok, where in your understanding does that photon go? There are two models
I'm aware of:
- the photon is somehow locked in the orbital for the electron (the
classical Bohr orbital model)
- the photon transfers coupling information between the electron and
the neutrons in the nucleus (Feynman Diagrams, I prefer this one)
Which one you want to choose is pretty much moot since neither are testable
in any know way I've ever seen proposed. The bottem line is to recognize
that if an electron is coupled to a nucleus there *MUST* be a photon
involved representing that amount of energy. That photon can be added to or
subtracted from based on the allowed orbitals of a given atomic nucleus. So
if I have an electron in orbital 1 (meaning 1 photon) and I have an allowed
orbital of some other value less than or equal to the value of that extant
photon and an incoming one that is absorbed. The electron is kicked up to a
higher orbital. Either in one fell swoop or through some sort of photon
cascade where excess energy is released in lower energy photons (ie heat).
Now if the electron absorbs the entire photon (that lucky dog) then it has
a tendency to spontaneously drop to a less energetic state. Depending on the
particular atomic nucleus some state change sequences are more likely than
others (in other words given atomic elements emit photons of characteristic
type at given temperatures [ie momentum imparted to the molecule as a result
of absorbing all these damn pesky photons]). As these photons are absorbed
and re-emitted the momentum of the various particles changes (the bent lines
in Feynman Diagrams).
> According to QED the speed of light in a particular medium (or index of
> refraction) is statistical in the same way that light always take the
> shortest path (it doesn't).
This is where things get really weird for me. On one hand any given photon
is anywhere/everywhere in the universe because of relativistic time/distance
dilation. Yet at the same time the light obeys the shortest geodesic (you've
got to remember space is warped) aspect while doing so in a statistical sense
only. The gross effect is such that light rays and such are useful
predictors of behaviour at our scale, yet the photon itself could be on the
other side of the galaxy for all we know. It's everywhere, it's here, and
it's there, all at the same time.... Alice had it easy.
____________________________________________________________________
Lawyers ask the wrong questions when they don't want
the right answers.
Scully (X-Files)
The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate
Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com
www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087
-====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'-
--------------------------------------------------------------------
