Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: E=hv Question



On Mon, 14 Oct 1996, Chris Clayton wrote:

At 02:27 PM 10/11/96 -0400, George Spagna wrote:
At 01:29 PM 10/11/96 -0400, Tony Wayne wrote:
Given E=hv, when I increase the frequency I get more energy. What happens
if I increase the amplitude of the E&M waves? What does this affect?


The number of photons. Intensity is proportional to the square of the field
in classical e-m waves. Intensity is proportional to the number flux of
photons when you're counting photons.


If I read this right, then the *intensity* is quantized, not the
*energy*. I know that energy _levels_ are quantized in atoms. It just
strikes me because whenever these topics came up in my chemistry classes the
equation E=hv is referred to (or butchered as) the quantization of energy
and from the equation that is not at all obvious (and probably wrong).

The way I explain the energy levels in atoms: The energy of an electron is quantized
whenever it is confined, and the energy it has is determined by the nature of the
confinement. Within a solid there are many different forms of confinement - by the atom -
by the molecule - by the solid itself; so there are many energies that the electron can
have.

The equation E=hv is not a quantization by itself because v can vary continuosly unless
the particle is confined.

I suppose that when we say 'the energy levels in the atom are quantized' we mean that the
energies of the electrons are restricted to certain values. These values in turn restrict the
energies of photons given off.

Michael

Michael McInerney
Physics, Rose-Hulman, Terre Haute, IN

michael.mcinerney@rose-hulman.edu