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Re: imaginary reality II



See below:

Adam was by constitution and proclivity a scientist; I was the same, and
we loved to call ourselves by that great name...Our first memorable
scientific discovery was the law that water and like fluids run downhill,
not up.
Mark Twain, <Extract from Eve's Autobiography>

On Sun, 23 Apr 2000, John Denker wrote:


In particular, consider sunlight scattering off of white fluffy
clouds. ISTM that the quantum wave mechanics of this is for all practical
purposes identical to the classical electromagnetic wave mechanics of
this. Help me out here, folks. If you can think of any physical,
mathematical, or pedagogical reason for saying that the two descriptions
are different, please explain.


Well, yes. Quantum mechanics enters into electromagnetic
scattering at the level where we need to consider the interaction of
light and matter. The electromagnetic wave show the photon side of its
face when it interacts with an atom.
If you are content to characterize the cloud as a region having
certain empirical parameters, index of refraction, etc., then you need
not consider QM (within the limits of your example). If you want the
details of the empirical parameters, that's where QM enters.
Also, if you want to consider a broad enough solar spectrum, then
ionization can occur and that requires QM to explain.
Regards,
Jack