Re: QUANTA

["John S. Denker" <jsd@MONMOUTH.COM>]

At 10:08 AM 3/8/99 -0800, James McLean wrote:
> "John S. Denker" wrote:
> >   1) Atoms are really small.  They are too small to couple well to the
> > Maxwell field.  Therefore they are always high-Q oscillators.  A Q of 10^8
> > is typical.  (The same cannot be said for dye molecules, which are large
> > enough to couple rather better.)
>
> Could you elaborate on this point?  What sets the size scale of the
> "Maxwell field"?  Since you are talking about oscillators, I assume that
> we're talking about a transverse size scale.  But maybe you are just
> referring to wavelength?

It's true that atoms are high-Q oscillators.
It's true that bigger molecules couple better.
It's true that atomic sizes are small compared to the EM wavelengths that
go with atomic frequencies.  Angstroms versus microns.

These facts are true, but the coupling could not be deduced from size
alone.  You need to think about electron charge, electron mass, and various
other things.

OK? --- jsd