The discussion revolves around the sun's role in warming the Earth, focusing on the mechanisms of energy transfer from solar radiation to the Earth's atmosphere and surface. Participants explore concepts related to electromagnetic radiation, photons, and the nature of light, including its dual particle-wave characteristics.
Participants express differing views on the nature of light and the role of photons in heating. While there is some agreement on the basic mechanisms of solar radiation, significant disagreement exists regarding the characterization of light and the emphasis on specific types of electromagnetic radiation.
Some statements reflect assumptions about the definitions of light and electromagnetic radiation, and there are unresolved discussions about the implications of viewing light as a particle versus a wave.
NOruss_watters said:Welcome to PF!
So, that all sounded about right; did you have a question about any of it?
Mohan Nivas said:The photons not only collide with atmospheric molecules it also collides with the surface... In atmosphere the photons are free to move so most of the photons reaches the surface... Hence it collides more in surface and produce more heat in surface... Thus the most of radiation reaches the surface...:-)
Bro, infrared is an electromagnetic wave which is due to the photons... infrared is the cause for heat.. Not only the infrared, ultraviolet can also produce heat.. That's why I had said photons are cause for the heat which are the basic constituents of all electromagnetic radiations... Is there anything u want to say...?davenn said:forget about individual photons ... its going to lead you down a bad path of confusion
Do you understand that it is infra red that is the primary cause of heating ?
absolutely rit I think.rootone said:Light can be considered either as a particle or a wave.
Depending on what we are trying to achieve sometimes it's best to consider light as photons, other situations make more sense to consider EM as waves.
The relationship of these two distict ways to view EM, both of which are valid, is what lies at the heart of quantum mechanics.
Wikipedia has a good graph showing the spectrum of radiant solar energy that is typically extracted by Earth's atmosphere.Mohan Nivas said:Bro, infrared is an electromagnetic wave which is due to the photons... infrared is the cause for heat.. Not only the infrared, ultraviolet can also produce heat...
I believe I understand what you are getting at, but I STRONGLY disagree with your statement as written. Light is NOT a particle and light is NOT a wave. Light is a quantum object that has both particle-like characteristics and wave-like characteristics. Particles and waves are classical physics objects and light is not either one.rootone said:Light can be considered either as a particle or a wave.
phinds said:I believe I understand what you are getting at, but I STRONGLY disagree with your statement as written. Light is NOT a particle and light is NOT a wave. Light is a quantum object that has both particle-like characteristics and wave-like characteristics. Particles and waves are classical physics objects and light is not either one.
I assume that this is what you actually mean (that it "acts" like one or the other, not that it "is" one or the other).[/QUOTEI had not say that they act like one or other I mean to say they possesses both charactersphinds said:I believe I understand what you are getting at, but I STRONGLY disagree with your statement as written. Light is NOT a particle and light is NOT a wave. Light is a quantum object that has both particle-like characteristics and wave-like characteristics. Particles and waves are classical physics objects and light is not either one.
I assume that this is what you actually mean (that it "acts" like one or the other, not that it "is" one or the other).