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- Newsgroups: sci.physics
- Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!news.cso.uiuc.edu!uxa.cso.uiuc.edu!tjn32113
- From: tjn32113@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Thomas J. Nugent)
- Subject: Re: Mirror reflections - quantum theory of light
- References: <1365@yetti.UUCP> <26JUL199219125771@zeus.tamu.edu>
- Message-ID: <Bs2Msy.162@news.cso.uiuc.edu>
- Sender: usenet@news.cso.uiuc.edu (Net Noise owner)
- Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
- Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 23:34:09 GMT
- Keywords: mirrors, reflection of light, photons
- Lines: 27
-
- dwr2560@zeus.tamu.edu (RING, DAVID WAYNE) writes:
-
- >jonathan@cs.yorku.ca (Jonathan Ostroff) writes...
- >>According to the quantum theory of light, when I see a reflection of
- >>myself in a mirror, am I seeing the original photon stream as it left
- >>me.
- >>Or, am I seeing new photons. This may be because of what happens when
- >>the photons hit the mirror. For example, do the photons collide with
- >>mirror atoms and become absorbed into these atoms. These excited atoms
- >>then perhaps give off new photons that reflect back to form the image.
-
- >You are close. The photons are not 'absorbed into these atoms' per se.
- >The photons basically cause the electrons in the mirror to wiggle, and
- >wiggling charges radiate (make new photons).
-
- Also, someone looking at you may not see all original photons. Don't
- some of them form electron positron pairs, which then reform into a photon?
- Oh, wait. That needs an energy at least in the x-ray range. (I know I
- personally can't see x-rays.) Well, with other quantum processes, aren't
- at least some of the photons others see not original?
-
- ``My goal is simple. It is complete understanding of the universe,
- why it is as it is and why it exists at all.''
- - Stephen Hawking
- --
- "To be average scares the hell out of me." -- Anonymous
- Tom Nugent e-mail: tjn32113@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
-