[Phys-L] Re: Promises promises

[Ludwik Kowalski <kowalskil@MAIL.MONTCLAIR.EDU>]

Thanks for correcting, John.

1) I removed my criticism of the author's vocabulary from the unit #236
as soon as I read your message below. That was not an essential part of
the unit.

2) The removed comment was based my belief that, unlike atoms,
molecules, and more complex systems, individual electrons have no
excited states. In my mind excitation energy of a particle is not the
same as its kinetic energy in an external frame of reference. I did not
know that "to excite an electron" can be used instead of "forcing it to
oscillate." Yes, photon's energy is reduced when a free electron starts
oscillating more energetically.
Ludwik Kowalski


On Sunday, Jul 10, 2005, John Denker wrote:

> 1) Photons do excite electrons.  In the case of free
> electrons this is obvious.  In the case of bound electrons
> it is matter of taste whether you call it an excitation
> "of the electron" or an excitation "of the overall system".
>
> The language of free electrons is commonly applied to
> electrons in semiconductors, for good reason.
>
> 2) Electrons do "split with" holes.
>
> 3) An electron-hole pair is in many ways analogous to an
> excited state in an atom or molecule.
>
> ========
>
> These are entirely conventional ideas and terminology
> among scientists.  Look up the discussion of Frenkel
> excitons and Mott-Wannier excitons in any solid-state
> physics text.
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