Feb.

4: This week’s big questions

• Is light a wave or a particle?

• What are the kinds of electromagnetic radiation?
• How do the spectra of thermal emitters behave?
• How are absorption & emission lines produced?
• How does light tells us the source’s velocity?

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 repeat: H Fusion “proton-proton chain”

IN OUT
4 protons 4He
The converted
nucleus mass is 0.7% of
2 gamma rays the initial mass
2 positrons
2 neutrinos
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Digression: A Short History of Anti-Matter

• For every type of subatomic particle, there exists a type

of anti-particle with the same mass and opposite charge
(but not equal numbers of particles and anti-particles).
• When a particle meets its anti-particle, all of their mass
is converted to electromagnetic energy: “annhilation.”
• The first anti-particle predicted was the anti-electron,
also called a positron, written e+ as opposed to e− .
• Dirac predicted it in 1928 and won the 1933 Nobel Prize;
Anderson detected and named it (1936 Nobel Prize).
• Positron-electron annhilation is the basis of the medical
technique of positron emission tomography (PET).

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 “Anti-Hydrogen” and Exotic Atoms
• Anti-hydrogen (an anti-proton in nucleus and positron in
place of the electron) was made in an accelerator in 1995.
• In 2002, they made enough of these at CERN to
measure energies of emitted photons (same as normal H)
• By 2011, scientists at CERN kept an atom of anti-H
stable for up to 15 minutes!
• The lightest neutral atom possible consists of an electron
bound to a positron. It is written Ps for “positronium.” Even
molecules of Ps have been made – Ps2 , like H2 .
• Another exotic atom is Mu, “muonium,” an anti-muon
paired with an electron. It typically lasts only 10-6 sec. It is
considered by some to be a light isotope of H.
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 Update on lab studies of anti-matter
• By 2011, a few nuclei of anti-deuterium and anti-helium
(2 anti-protons and 2 anti-neutrons) had been produced.
• Current goal is to make anti-matter with low enough
kinetic energies to study the light it produces, using the
Antiproton Decelerator at CERN (site of the LHC).
• Special issue of the Journal of Physics B in 2017, on
Antihydrogen and Positronium.

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 low

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Why the Fuss about Solar Neutrinos?
Unlike photons, which take a very slow, random
walk to bring their energy to the Sun’s surface,
neutrinos have a “straight shot” from the core.
This motivated the Davis experiment:

Scientists became worried when they failed to

detect as many neutrinos as they had predicted.
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 Nobel Prize in Physics, 2002
Shared by Ray Davis (left) and
M. Koshiba (leader of the
Kamiokande team) for their
discoveries about the Sun and
the true nature of neutrinos.

Nobel Prize in Physics, 2015

Arthur McDonald (top) of the SNO
project and Takaaki Kajita of the
Super-Kamiokande: “for the
discovery of neutrino oscillations
and that neutrinos have mass.”

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 Light as a form of Energy

• Light is radiative or electromagnetic energy. Energy is

usually measured in Joules (or ergs).
• We are often interested in power = the rate at which
energy is produced, emitted, or used up.
• Power is measured in Watts: 1 Watt = 1 Joule/second
• An incandescent 100 W light bulb uses 100 Joules each
second (and is a fossil, these days).
• The Sun emits 3.8 1026 W; this is its luminosity.
Astronomers use the Sun’s luminosity, written symbolically
as 1 L¤ , as a convenient unit for stars and galaxies.

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 Light is a wave, but of what?
• Light is a traveling wave of oscillating electric and
magnetic fields, carrying electromagnetic energy.
• Light interacts with charged particles (matter!) through
these electric and magnetic fields.

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 Properties of Waves

Anatomy of
a wave
(animation)

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 Spectroscopy: Dissecting Light
The speed of a wave is wavelength x frequency: l ´ f = s
All kinds of light travel at the same speed (in a vacuum):
l ´ f = c (inverse relation; as f é, λ ê)
Our eyes interpret light of different l s as different colors
There are also many wavelengths our eyes don’t detect.

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Wavelength & frequency vary inversely
speed of a wave = wavelength ´ frequency
units: m/sec m ´ 1/sec = ”hertz”
(This defines “frequency” – the number of waves per sec)

l ´ f = c (as l é, f ê, and vice versa)

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But in some ways light acts like a particle
• The photoelectric effect, noted by Einstein, shows that
light energy must come in discrete units.
• Each unit, called a photon, carries a fixed amount of
energy related to its wavelength or frequency.
• Photon energy is directly proportional to frequency:
ε = h f = h (c/λ)
• This is a rather odd equation: Why?
• It casts the photon as both wave and particle at once!

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The Types of Electromagnetic Radiation

λ f = c where λ = wavelength and f = frequency

(f is sometimes denoted by the Greek letter nu, ν)
c = 3.00 x 108 m/s = speed of light
ε=h f where ε = photon energy
h = 6.626 x 10-34 Joule s = Planck’s constant

Note directions of arrows!

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 Two Representations of a Spectrum

Why might you use a graph to represent a spectrum

rather than showing the top view, as you saw it?
(1) A more exact, precise way to show wavelength & intensity.
(2) It’s more general, can use it for wavelengths we don’t see.
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Kirchhoff’s Second law: Emission Lines

A hot, low-density gas emits light at a few specific

wavelengths that depend on what elements are
present, producing bright, narrow emission lines.
In our demo on Jan. 30, you saw emission lines of H, He,
Ne, and a molecule – N2.
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Kirchhoff’s Third Law: Absorption Lines

Cool low-density gas located between us and a

(hot) source of a continuous spectrum absorbs at
only a few specific wavelengths, producing dark
narrow gaps called absorption lines.
Our example of absorption was a solid – pink plastic –
which makes a broad feature that’s easier to see.
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Kirchhoff s “Laws” (cases) summarized

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How are spectral lines produced? Why does each
kind of atom have their emission and absorption
lines at the same unique set of wavelengths?

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 Electron Orbits or Energy Levels
• Each electron exists in an orbit with fixed energy.
The usual analogy is the rungs on a ladder.
• Electrons must gain energy in order to jump up
from an orbit of lower to one of higher energy.
• When an electron falls down from a higher to a
lower energy orbit, it loses (gives up) energy.
• The lowest energy orbit (level) of all is the ground
state; higher energy levels are excited states.
• When electrons gain enough energy to escape
the nucleus, the atom has been ionized.

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 How Atoms Absorb and Emit Light
When an atom absorbs light, the photon energy must
be exactly equal to the energy needed to make an
electron jump from a small orbit to a bigger one.
When an atom emits a photon of light, the energy of the
photon must equal the energy lost by the atom when an
electron drops from one orbit to another.

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 Production of Emission Lines
Photons are emitted when electrons are “bumped
up” to excited energy levels by colliding with other
particles or by absorbing photons, followed by a
spontaneous drop to a lower energy level.

The energy of the

emitted photon is equal
to the energy difference
between the initial and
final levels. A photon of
fixed energy has a
specific wavelength.
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 In-class Activity, Feb. 4
You must work in a group to
get credit for this activity! 1. Which transition(s), if any, cause a
photon to be emitted?
2. Which transition(s), if any, cause a
photon to be absorbed?
3. Which pair(s) of transitions involve
photons of the same wavelength?
Explain why this happens.
4. Which arrow, if any, represents a
transition that cannot happen?

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