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Energy Causing Movement on Atomic Scale
Name: Steph
Status: student
Grade: 12+
Location: N/A
Country: Australia
Date: Summer 2011
Question:
Why does energy cause movement in particles? How does, for
example, when an atom absorbs a photon does that electromagnetic
energy transform into kinetic energy and why does this addition cause
movement? What happens to the photon, can one type of fundamental
energy be transformed into another? Sorry for all the questions, but
as you can probably see, I am quite confused.
Replies:
Steph,
Single particles do not behave like balls bouncing off each other.
Particles are emitted and absorbed by others all the time. When a
proton absorbs a photon, all that remains is a photon. The new proton
has a new energy, new rotation (called spin), new energy, and even a
new direction for its velocity. That proton can then release a
completely new photon in a completely new direction. The proton can
also change into a neutron and a positive pion. If this pion reaches a
neutron, they can then join to become a proton. Energy transfers all
the time.
A kind of energy transfer we see all the time happens when a ball
falls: potential energy to kinetic energy. Another kind happens
inside a nuclear power plant: mass energy to heat energy to electrical
energy. Even bumping into a wall is energy transfer. If energy did
not transfer, nothing would ever interact.
Dr. Ken Mellendorf
Physics Instructor
Illinois Central College
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