Re: Can a light bulb run out of photons?


"Henry Haapalainen" <kirppu@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:de89g9$eod$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> "Bill Hobba" <rubbish@xxxxxxxx> kirjoitti viestissä
> news:AoANe.5259$FA3.4405@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>> "Henry Haapalainen" <kirppu@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>> news:de5r3r$ncd$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> >
>> > "Tom Roberts" <tjroberts@xxxxxxxxxx> kirjoitti viestissä
>> > news:lEtNe.3603$Z%6.2613@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> >> Joatman71 wrote:
>> >> > I always thought that the energy supplied by the electrical company
> was
>> >> > simply used to heat up the light bulb filament which then emitted
>> >> > light. This is true, but too simple. I never knew that this light
> was
>> >> > caused by electrons (in the filament) dropping to lower states. To
>> >> > continue to emit photons then won't these electrons need to jump
>> >> > back
>> >> > to the outer orbital? Is the energy required to make this jump
>> >> > supplied by the electrical company?
>> >>
>> >> In the filament of a light bulb, there are a significant number of
>> >> electrons not associated with any particular atom, forming the
> so-called
>> >> conduction band (which is a "band" of energy states populated by
>> >> electrons not associated with any particular atom). Materials without
>> >> such a conduction band are called insulators and are unsuitable for
>> >> use
>> >> as a light bulb filament. When a current flows, the heat incuced by
>> >> the
>> >> current causes these conduction-band electrons to be excited into
> higher
>> >> energy states, which also means the lower-energy states of the
>> >> conduction band become somewhat depopulated. That gives the
> upper-energy
>> >> electrons the ability to transition to a lower-energy state and emit a
>> >> photon while doing so. Because the states in the conduction band are a
>> >> continuum in energy, photons of all wavelengths are emitted (rather
> than
>> >> the discrete spectrum of the specific atoms themselves). It is
> necessary
>> >> for the filament to be heated up to a high enough temperature so that
>> >> the blackbody spectrum emitted by the conduction-band electrons
>> >> appears
>> >> white to the human eye, or at least nearly so.
>> >>
>> >> Fluorescent lights work in a completely different way, and neon lights
>> >> work in still another way.... But none of them can ever "run out of
>> >> photons" as the photons are always created when they are emitted; the
>> >> energy required to create them is supplied by the electric company.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Tom Roberts tjroberts@xxxxxxxxxx
>> >
>> > The atomic model with electron shells has been a good model for
> chemists,
>> > but it does not describe reality. Does somebody really believe it to be
> truth?
>
>>> Henry Haapalainen
>
>> If you can us what reality is, and have everyone agree, then we may be
> able
>> to decide.
>> As Indiana Jones said in one of his movies - Archeology is the search for
>> fact - if you want truth professor so and so's philosophy class is down
> the
>> hall. What applies specifically to archeology applies pretty much to
>> science general And the criteria for scientifically deciding which of
>> two
>> theories equally un accord with experiment is a better description of
>> reality is? BTW science is not concerned with reality (whatever that
> is) -
>> not because scientists do not believe in it (they generally do) but
> because
>> what it is, if it exists, and even if we can perceive it is a
> philosophical
>> issue beyond experimental investigation..
>>
>> Bill
>
> Bill Hobba, learn to write so that people who read these would be able to
> know, who is answering to whom. I fixed your mess this time. If somebody
> needs some arguments from me, I will answer. But I will not answer to Bill
> Hobba any more, because it would be useless.

Suit yourself.

Bill

>
> Henry Haapalainen
>
>


.

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