Why do accelerated charges emit e/m radiation?

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Accelerated charged particles emit electromagnetic radiation due to the propagation of electromagnetic disturbances at the speed of light. This phenomenon explains why classical models, such as Bohr's model of the atom, fail to accurately describe electron behavior, as electrons would spiral into the nucleus if they emitted radiation continuously. The discussion references the Purcell text, which provides a relativity-based explanation of this process, emphasizing the creation of wavefronts as the charge accelerates.

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sor2char
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Hi first time post here and the site is awesome.
Question is in the title really. I am a second year physicist at UMIST, manchester, England and worry about why an accelerated charged particle loses energy via e/m radiation. For example Bohr's model of the atom consisting of electrons physically orbitting the nucleus was proved incorrect as the elctrons would spiral towards the centre.
 
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the purcell text i used this year had a very good explanation based in relativity, somewhat replicated at this site: www.chem.yale.edu/~cas/jenkins.html[/URL]

basically, electromagnetic disturbances propagate at the speed of light. so the information that the charge (and the field from the charge) has acclerated reaches a certain point away from the charge at a later time, indicated by the picture to the right. this creates a sort of wavefront.
 
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