Thursday, March 26, 2020
Light, Chemistry and Photons
Light, Chemistry and PhotonsPhotons and Chemistry have a special relationship. The chemical reaction produces light in the process of electron transfer. Photons and Chemistry go together like a house and a roof, with little doubt about which one of the two is more important. The most important thing to understand about electrons is that each one of them has a particular 'energy'motive' attached to it.Molecules are formed in reactions like major chemicals, at the high temperatures associated with burning fossil fuels for energy. Molecules break down in these reactions due to the actions of electrons on their nuclei, providing some basis for understanding the 'electric' nature of atoms. As you can see, there is a great deal of chemistry involved in the chain reaction of producing light in the form of photons.The 'pulse' of light (pulse is not the right word for this process) produced by the reaction also carries information in the form of photons (if only because photons carry energy). Some photons are absorbed by electrons in the molecule, others are excited, and a few go directly to radiation, where it will be re-radiated as infrared light in the form of heat. Photons are emitted by the atoms during the actual combustion of the fuel, and some is absorbed in the form of heat from the reaction.The fact that the overall process is 'chemical' is one of the best things to come out of this unique 'molecular quirk'. It makes sense to think of atoms as chemical complexes. The difference between the chemical reaction and the chemical complexes is that chemical reactions are a sort of continuous chain reaction. Molecules are arranged in such a way that one (usually a simple one) gets set off first to form a new molecule.In the case of Chemistry, the process is a continuous chain reaction of sorts, or some would say an orderly series of reactions, but one that can be seen as a common cause for all of the other processes that occur. Even if some other part of the system we re to happen while the chain reaction is being carried out, the chain reaction itself would continue, producing the photon information. The fact that the chains of reactions are completely free-floating means that everything that occurs has a cause. The law of cause and effect (or thermodynamics) simply applies to the many interactions between different components of the process.If you understand this aspect of Physics, then it is easy to see how the idea of 'pulses' of light 'reciprocating' in the quantum system might seem somewhat incongruous. A single pulse of photons might be considered 'random' in itself, but as it runs through all of the channels in the system, it becomes 'real'. That is, the photon impulse becomes part of the set of physical laws that govern the system. In other words, the process that creates the photon impulse is part of the fundamental information in the system. And as it is part of the information, it is just as real as any other physical phenomenon.This is how photon Chemistry and the other processes that exist in the real world make the 'weird' relationship between photons and Chemistry completely logical. There is just as much chemistry in the atoms themselves, as there is in the molecules they are made up of. The relationship is fundamental, and one cannot help but wonder why something so seemingly 'difficult' should have worked out so well.
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