The discussion revolves around the relationship between photon frequency, areal density, and intensity in the context of incandescent bulbs. Participants explore how changes in intensity affect the frequency of photon emissions and the density of photons emitted, considering both theoretical and practical implications.
Participants express differing views on the relationship between photon frequency, areal density, and intensity. There is no consensus on how these quantities interact, and the discussion remains unresolved with multiple competing perspectives.
Some statements rely on assumptions about the behavior of photons and the nature of black body radiation, which may not be universally accepted. The discussion includes references to specific physical laws and concepts that are not fully explored or agreed upon.
ceil said:The intensity just can increase or decrease the number of photons, but the movement enargy of photons related to the frequency of light
thanks. do you have any literature on this?Jilang said:If the frequency of emission decreases the aerial density will do too. By the same proportion.
No, you can double the flux by halving the interval and leaving the density unchanged. The photons will still travel at c.Jilang said:No. It's just a consequence of flux. If you double the flux you double the rate of that the photons pass through a shell. Given that they all travel at c, the speed of light, the density in the shell must be double.
Incandescent light bulbs emit light as a result of heat. We can treat the bulb as a black body source. The question you ask is really specific, I will answer according to my intuition however if I am mistaken feel free to correct.greswd said:When one reduces the intensity of let's say, an incandescent bulb (by varying the resistance, as seen in many homes), which decreases more, the photon frequency (not related to wavelength, but the time interval between photon emissions) or the areal density of the photons?
To what extent does each decrease?
Jilang said:No. It's just a consequence of flux. If you double the flux you double the rate of that the photons pass through a shell. Given that they all travel at c, the speed of light, the density in the shell must be double.
Nosebgr said:Incandescent light bulbs emit light as a result of heat. We can treat the bulb as a black body source. The question you ask is really specific, I will answer according to my intuition however if I am mistaken feel free to correct.
A black body source emits light as a result of collisions between atoms and molecules in the atomic structure. As the material heats up, the atoms and molecules start to collide with higher kinetic energies, thus in a given time frame more collisions occur. We can roughly treat each collision as an emission of a single photon. Therefore the rate of collisions is the rate of photon emission.
By areal density, I am assuming you mean the number of photons per unit area perpendicular to the radial emission (photon's travel path). We can then say that the areal density of of photons is roughly the number of collisions happening per unit area. Then no matter the temperature of the material, the areal density will remain constant - since the number of atoms, thus the number of collisions is constant.
So, at low temperatures the emission rate decreases, but the number of photons per emission (if it makes sense) remains constant.
Jilang said:The rate of emission therefore cannot be constant.