Contradiction between the show Cosmos and what someone here told me?

Thread starter bluemoonKY
Start date Apr 22, 2016
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Contradiction Cosmos

AI Thread Summary

The discussion centers on the interaction between electrons and photons, specifically regarding how electrons emit photons when transitioning to lower energy levels. Blueleaf77 explains that photon absorption raises an electron's energy state, while emission occurs when an electron drops to a lower state, a point that seems to conflict with Neil DeGrasse Tyson's assertion that the reason for this drop is unknown. Participants debate whether the emission of a photon is a consequence of the electron's energy drop or a cause of it. The conversation highlights the complexities of quantum mechanics and the ongoing uncertainties in understanding these processes. Ultimately, the discussion reflects a broader inquiry into the nature of quantum events and their underlying causes.

Apr 27, 2016

IsometricPion

bluemoonKY said:

What does "the Hamiltonian" mean?

A Hamiltonian is the name people give to a "function" (technically a functional or an operator) that takes in the fields or positions and momenta of the things in a system and returns the energy associated with those fields or positions and momenta.

Cecil Tomlinson said:

The stability of the electron at the higher energy level depends on the threshold energy required to knock it back out of the higher energy level

Please give some reference or explanation about this threshold, I have never heard of it for spontaneous emission. As far as I know, there is no such threshold. Even if the only things in the universe initially were the electromagnetic field (with zero photon number) and a hydrogen atom in an excited state, the excited state would eventually decay and emit a photon.