Re: Electron & ground state energy

From: tadchem (thomas.davidson_at_dla.mil)
Date: 03/25/05 

Date: 25 Mar 2005 07:05:02 -0800

Jack wrote:
> When not excited, electrons are said to be at ground state.

Correct.

> This ground state energy is said to come from interactions
> between the vacuum's virtual particle sea and the electron.

Not correct. The ground state is defined by the properties of the
electron and the electrostatic potential which binds it, with respect
for the principles of quantum mechanics with regard to angular momentum
and radiative transitions. The electron and the potential are very
real - there is nothing 'virtual' about the situation.

> Supposed, a device got developed in the future that
> can shift the degree of coherence in the virtual particle
> sea of the vacuum, What would happen to the atoms or
> chemical reactions since the ground state of the atoms
> got altered ?

Your earlier error renders these speculations superfluous. The phrase
"degree of coherence in the virtual particle sea of the vacuum" is in
itself incoherent as the concept of coherence has not been
operationally defined in a way that would permit its application to a
'virtual particle sea,' whatever *that* is.

Tom Davidson
Richmond, VA

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