[HN Gopher] Researchers observe how energy of single electron is...
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       Researchers observe how energy of single electron is tuned by
       surrounding atoms
        
       Author : wglb
       Score  : 34 points
       Date   : 2024-03-18 13:28 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (phys.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (phys.org)
        
       | VyseofArcadia wrote:
       | > One of the oddities of quantum physics is that particles, e.g.,
       | electrons, can often only take on quantized energy values--as if
       | the ball was leaping between specific heights, like steps of a
       | ladder, rather than flying continuously.
       | 
       | Less an oddity and more the defining feature that the field is
       | named after.
        
         | epgui wrote:
         | I understand "oddity" here to mean that it is odd in relation
         | to our intuitive everyday experiences, which feel rather
         | continuous at human scales.
        
         | hateful wrote:
         | How could we know if this is because we can only measure these
         | specific heights, not that they don't exist at other heights?
         | And is there even a real difference between these two
         | scenarios.
        
           | twiceaday wrote:
           | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet_catastrophe
           | 
           | "The phrase refers to the fact that the empirically derived
           | Rayleigh-Jeans law, which accurately predicted experimental
           | results at large wavelengths, failed to do so for short
           | wavelengths. (See the image for further elaboration.) As the
           | theory diverged from empirical observations when these
           | frequencies reached the ultraviolet region of the
           | electromagnetic spectrum, there was a problem.[3] This
           | problem was later found to be due to a property of quanta as
           | proposed by Max Planck: There could be no fraction of a
           | discrete energy package already carrying minimal energy."
        
         | euroderf wrote:
         | That and phenomena like the Planck length. Call it "snap to
         | grid" ?
        
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       (page generated 2024-03-20 23:01 UTC)