Posted on 12/28/2006 5:17:17 AM PST by GQuagmire
Electrons have orbits they are comfy in. The electrons can be forced into bigger orbits with more electrons forced into the mix. When the pressure is released the elecyrons go back to their comfy orbit. When they go back to their comfy orbit, energy is released in the form of visible light.
This is just what I recall from high school 30 years ago. My understanding is simply that the light is simply produced by the lowering of the energy state. I'll have to look it up.
Not untrue. Electrons in a gas molecule quickly - in nanoseconds - drop down into the ground state, emitting a well defined line spectrum with each transition. Electrons can be excited out of the ground state in a number of ways, collisions that knock electrons free are one.
During recombination, the electron drops through a series of states quickly giving off a characteristic wavelength photon at each step along the way.
Yep, then the photon hits the phosphorus coating producing the glow we can see.
I once read a book by Einstein, what I recall the most was his apologizing for having to use a mathematical equation in his book. He was writing to the average man, and wanted to explain things as clearly as possible. That influence made me choose a decidedly unscientific term such as "comfy", in an earlier response.
Anyway this little discussion of ours started when I was not sure how a DC current could make a florescent bulb glow as you stated in post #86.
Riiiight, and Martians are living in my basement.
If he get shocks in the house, better check the house wiring, don't blame the power lines outside!!
this poor guy needs a damn good lawyer.....any takers?
You have an auwful lot of time on your hands, beating on Mr Zagami. The large power companies have all the resources to bury their wrongdoing. I would love to see a lawyer that has the guts to contact Mr Zagami to challenege the validity of National Grid's so called plans. Those poles had to be put in via satellite. An inch off for satellite is feet off on the ground. Let's not be so quick to attack this poor guy when he may actually have a good argument against the grid!
http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/us/2006/12/29/kirchner.ma.charged.house.wlne
Video of the story.
It doesn't look that close to the wires...
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