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4:13 AM
@JohnRennie: Hi. It's given for a pure spectrum - "...light of one wavelength should occupy one particular spatial position in the spectrum."; Does it mean a pure spectrum can only be a line and not a band?
Something like the following:
So in reality, will it be highly difficult to see a pure spectrum just because it's so thin?
 
 
2 hours later…
5:52 AM
No.
 
@JohnRennie: Good morning sir :-)
 
Morning :-)
Suppose you choose a wavelength e.g. 456nm.
 
@JohnRennie Why sir? If it must occupy a unique point in space, then I could think of only one point or a collection of points leading to a line.
 
If you have a spectrum spread out on a screen, then the question is where along the screen will the light of this wavelength fall.
e.g. if we have the spectrum spread out horizontally and we call the horizontal coordinate $x$, then at what value of $x$ will the 456nm light strike the screen?
@GuruVishnu You remember yesterday we were talking about how a slit of large width will result in a blurred spectrum?
 
@JohnRennie It's something fixed value. I know it depends on wavelength sir. I had doubts on width of the entire spectrum. Did I explain what I meant, sir?
@JohnRennie Of course yes sir. Now I'm having doubt on the width or the top bottom length of the spectrum.
BTW it's not mandatory to @ username; I'm constantly keeping track of your messages. Sometimes it'll take some time for me to understand or to type a reply :-)
 
5:57 AM
The vertical height of the spectrum can be anything. Along a vertical line the light has the same wavelength so there is no restriction on the vertical height.
The vertical height of the spectrum on the screen is actually just the vertical height of the slit multiplied by the magnification of the lenses you've used.
 
@JohnRennie Ok sir. Will that not defy the definition for pure spectrum - "..._light of one wavelength should occupy one particular spatial position in the spectrum._"? Because if we're free to choose any vertical height, then two different points in the same line will have the same colour.
 
It's poorly worded. It means on spatial position along the spectrum.
 
@JohnRennie Ok sir. Then I got it. Thank you.
I have some more doubts and I'll ask them after you're done with doubts on Physics. room.
 
I think you can ask now. Alesha seems happy.
 
@JohnRennie Ok sir. Thank you.
I was reading about Atomic emission / absorption spectrum from Wikipedia and I had a doubt in that. I'm trying to find the article where I found the doubt sir.
And I'll quote the doubt from that.
 
6:13 AM
OK
 
Aha! got it sir.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectral_line

"When a photon has about the right amount of energy to allow a change in the energy state of the system (in the case of an atom this is usually an electron changing orbitals), the photon is absorbed. Then it will be spontaneously re-emitted, either in the same frequency as the original or in a cascade, where the sum of the energies of the photons emitted will be equal to the energy of the one absorbed (assuming the system returns to its original state)"
 
It suggests a photon of higher energy gets transformed (splitted) into smaller energy photons. But from the following posts on SE, I learnt photon splitting is not possible:
24
Q: Can you split a photon?

Stephan SchielkeI was wondering if a photon is divisible. If you look at a photon as a particle, then you may be able to split it (in theory). Is it possible and how do you split it?

8
Q: What happens when a photon hits a beamsplitter?

CramerTVYesterday I read that we can affect the path and the 'form' (particle or wave) of a photon after the fact (Wheeler's delayed choice experiment). Part of what is puzzling me is the beam-splitter. Are the individual photons actually being split into two new photons of lesser energy? This question...

I read only answers by user "anna v" as they are easy to understand.
 
Suppose you have a hydrogen atom, and you fire a single photon at it with the energy equal to the 1s to 3p transition. Then the atom absorbs the photon and jumps to the 3p state. OK so far?
 
@JohnRennie Yes sir. Shall we use this kind of naming energy levels as I'm quite used to n=1,2,3,4,5,...?
 
6:18 AM
OK from the n=1 to the n=3 state.
 
@JohnRennie :-)
 
Then the atom is going to decay back into the n=1 state, but it can do this in two ways.
 
@JohnRennie Yes sir. Either directly or through n=2
 
It can jump directly to n=1 and emit a single photon with the same energy as the original photon that was absorbed.
Or it can decay to the n=2 state and emit a lower energy photon, then the n=2 state decays to the n=1 state and emits a second photon.
 
Yes sir. Got it. Now we can "jump" to the next point.
 
6:20 AM
Both emitted photons having an energy less than the original photon that got absorbed.
So one photon got absorbed and two photons got emitted.
 
@JohnRennie Why sir? Isn't the photon emitted due to n=3 to n=1 same as initial photon energy?
Oh! You're now referring to the second case of an intermediate step (n=3 to 2 to 1)?
If yes, kindly neglect my first message.
 
I mean both photons emitted in the two step process have a lower energy than the original photon.
 
@JohnRennie Yes sir. Now one photon in then two photons out. Do you agree with this sir?
 
Yes
And this is the process that Wikipedia is referring to.
 
@JohnRennie So one photon splits into two photons. Do you agree sir?
 
6:23 AM
No
The original photon got absorbed and destroyed.
Two new photons were created.
 
@JohnRennie Why not? One photon in and two photon out is same as splitting, right sir?
 
@JohnRennie So sad :-)
@JohnRennie Now understood sir. So there is nothing like Law of conservation of photon number?
like we have for conservation of charge.
 
@GuruVishnu This turns out to be interesting
 
@JohnRennie Is there any previous question on SE, sir?
@JohnRennie Thank you.
 
6:26 AM
The number of electrons is a conserved quantity. However its antiparticle, the positron, counts as -1 electrons.
 
I found it quite difficult to search because this is a new subject for me and I don't have efficient methods of searching.
 
So suppose an electron and positron come together and annihilate, what is the change in the number of electrons?
 
@JohnRennie What does annihilate mean? Combine?
 
@GuruVishnu yes. Do you know that matter and antimatter can combine and turn into energy?
No? Have you never seen a Star Trek movie?
 
@JohnRennie Sir, I'm sorry. I've heard about antimatter only in some documentaries. I'm afraid I will not be able to understand anything beyond this. A small "yes" or "no" will do it for me for now.
 
6:29 AM
In particle physics, annihilation is the process that occurs when a subatomic particle collides with its respective antiparticle to produce other particles, such as an electron colliding with a positron to produce two photons. The total energy and momentum of the initial pair are conserved in the process and distributed among a set of other particles in the final state. Antiparticles have exactly opposite additive quantum numbers from particles, so the sums of all quantum numbers of such an original pair are zero. Hence, any set of particles may be produced whose total quantum numbers are also...
@GuruVishnu Yes
 
@JohnRennie No sir. I have to as it's about space exploration (I guess).
I think I've seen the space ship enterprise from that movie. Am I right?
A big disk kind of space ship
 
psa
@JohnRennie hey, do you have time at some point for a quick question?
 
I suspect what I was going to say is a bit pointless if you're not already familiar with the idea of particle-antiparticle annihilation.
But the bottom line is that photons can be created and destroyed, and the number of photons is not conserved.
@psa hi :-)
 
@JohnRennie Ok sir. No problem. I'll store it for a future discussion with you once I gather some knowledge on Quantum mechanics.
@JohnRennie That's great. Then why not get splitted?
 
psa
oops
 
6:32 AM
@GuruVishnu anyhow, the original photon isn't split because it gets destroyed and two new different photons get created.
 
psa
wrong question
Assuming that Otto von Guericke was able to evacuate just half of the air inside his two famous Magdeburg hemispheres, what would have been the force required to pull them apart? The hemispheres had a diameter of about 50cm.
 
The energy of the original photon gets split in two, with part going to each new photon, but the original photon gets destroyed not split.
 
psa
I was assuming it was just $F = PA$, but the fact that only half the air was evacuated is a bit confusing. Wouldn't the pressure vary as more air escaped? Is an integral needed here?
 
@JohnRennie Ok sir. Thank you. I'll ask after @psa. I think it's a quick question :-)
 
@psa the force is the force needed for the initial separation i.e. before any air flows in or out of the gap between the spheres.
 
6:35 AM
@psa: Is that a JEE related question. If yes I could give it a try.
 
psa
not really sure, it's from a 2nd year thermodynamics class but I think it's just meant to be review
 
@psa do you know how to do the calculation for the Magdeburg spheres?
 
psa
I don't, no
 
@psa Then sorry for interrupting.
 
psa
@GuruVishnu no worries, it might be relevant, I'm just not sure because I've never taken the JEE
 
6:37 AM
It's done using the principle of virtual work. Well, it can be done in many ways, but virtual work is the easiest.
 
psa
I only vaguely remember virtual work from Feynman's explanation, and I didn't fully understand it. You'll have to explain that as well or as you go if we take that route
 
Suppose we pull the spheres apart by an infinitesimal distance $dx$, then the new volume created between the spheres is $dV = Adx$, where $A$ is just the area $A = \pi r^2$. OK so far?
@psa hello?
 
psa
Hi, sorry
Right, the area is just the area of the centremost cross section?
 
@psa Yes. It's the area inside the spheres at the mid plane where they separate.
 
psa
OK, yes
 
6:47 AM
So the work done is the usual $PdV$ i.e. $dW = (P_{ext} - P_{int})Adx$
 
psa
Right, I guess we can assume $P_{int} = 0$?
 
@psa yes, though in your question $P_{int} = 0.5 atm$, which is why I left it in the equation.
 
psa
ah, I see
 
Now, there's another way we can calculate the work. If the force pulling the spheres apart if $F$, then the work is just $dW = Fdx$.
 
psa
So $Fdx = (P_{ext} - P_{int})Adx$
 
6:50 AM
BOOM! :-)
 
psa
nice
so then $F = (P_{ext} - P_{int})A = (10135Pa - 50662.5Pa)\pi(0.5m)^2$?
or should I be integrating?
 
0.5m is the diameter not the radius.
 
psa
oops
 
But yes, it is as simple as that.
 
psa
that's sweet
so that's virtual work then?
i.e. moving a little dx
 
6:56 AM
Yes. The dx is the virtual displacement.
The technique works in lots of similar problems e.g. calculating the pressure inside a soap bubble.
 
psa
that's really nice to deal with
I actually use that all the time to set up integrals, I just didn't know that was the essence of virtual work
 
@JohnRennie hi.
 
@Nobodyrecognizeable hi :-)
 
@JohnRennie 18 why?
I know du= Tds-Pdv.
Does it signify anything?
 
7:12 AM
@Nobodyrecognizeable If the gases on the two sides can exchange energy then the hotter gas will heat the colder gas until they are the same temperature. Yes?
 
@JohnRennie yes.
 
So at equilibrium the temperatures are going to be the same.
 
@JohnRennie yes.
 
And if the pressures are different there will be a net force on the movable partition, so the partition will move until the pressures are the same.
 
@JohnRennie alright.
 
7:14 AM
So at equilibrium the pressures and temperatures will be the same on both sides.
 
Do you have time for another one?
 
Give me 15 minutes. I'm working at the moment.
 
@JohnRennie OK.
Please ping me when you come back.
 
7:32 AM
@Nobodyrecognizeable hi. I'm free for about half an hour now.
 
@JohnRennie hi
 
@Nobodyrecognizeable hi
 
@JohnRennie is that because we think that heat of resorvoir never changes?
 
What does the second line of option (d) say - the screenshot has clipped it off.
 
@JohnRennie increases.
 
7:41 AM
OK, so how far have you got with this?
 
C
2 mins ago, by Nobody recognizeable
@JohnRennie is that because we think that heat of resorvoir never changes?
@JohnRennie ^^
 
Entropy is given by $dS = dQ/T$
 
@JohnRennie yes.
 
For the hot reservoir $dQ = -Q_1$. It's negative because heat is being removed.
$T$ has the constant value $T_1$.
So $\Delta S = -Q_1/T_1$
(c) is true
 
@JohnRennie but the cooler resorvoir takes heat as well.
 
7:44 AM
The entropy of the hot source decreases and the entropy of the cold sink increases. But option (c) only asks about the entropy of the hot source.
 
@JohnRennie overall entropy change is zero. So d.
 
Yes.
 
@JohnRennie OK sorry thats done.
 
@JohnRennie don't you agree it should be d.?
ds/dE=1/T
 
7:53 AM
@Nobodyrecognizeable I agree that dS/dE = 1/T, but that means the lower the gradient on the graph the higher the temperature. Yes?
 
@JohnRennie yes
@JohnRennie oh crap sorry.!
 
:-)
 
@JohnRennie g=h-Ts.
We know s is discontinuous then why should g not be?
 
Both H and S are discontinuous, and the two discontinuities cancel each other out to make G continuous.
 
@JohnRennie is it true for everything?
 
7:59 AM
It's true for all first order phase transitions.
 
@JohnRennie ^^
 
psa
@JohnRennie hey, do you have a sec?
 
@Nobodyrecognizeable How far have you got with this?
@psa hi :-)
 
@JohnRennie lnp=-c/T
 
psa
I think I'm OK with figuring out $f$ (number of thermodynamically accessible quadratic degrees of freedom), I'm just not sure how I'm supposed to get heat capacity per gram if we're not given the amount of substance present.
 
8:08 AM
@JohnRennie now how does the graph appear?
 
@Nobodyrecognizeable It's either (a) or (c) isn't it?
 
@JohnRennie they say c.
@psa one mole substance has or N molecules have molecular weight. Say W g. The 1g has W/N molecules.
 
@Nobodyrecognizeable When you do the integral you get $\ln P = -\frac{k}{T} + C$ where $C$ is the constant of integration. Yes?
 
@JohnRennie yes.
 
So the question is what is the value of $C$? In graph (a) the constant C is zero and in graph (c) the constant C is positive.
 
psa
8:12 AM
But we don't have W or N
 
@psa well N=6.023*10^23 and W is supposed to be known.
@JohnRennie sorry, yes.
 
psa
oh I see
$\frac{mol}{g} \cdot N_A = 1/g$
 
@JohnRennie are you here?
 
Suppose we choose the point $P=1N$ so $\ln P = 0$, then we get $C = k/T$, so unless $T = \infty$ that means $C$ is a positive number.
 
@JohnRennie yes
 
8:17 AM
So in general $C$ is going to be a positive number and that means $\ln P$ is going to tend to a constant positive value at large $T$.
 
@JohnRennie yes
@JohnRennie Thanks for the help professor have a nice day.
 
@Nobodyrecognizeable :-)
 
@JohnRennie Sir I need to draw a spring, how to draw it? You know some drawing tool software or something?
 
@Knight I use Google Draw for doing diagrams. I have a drawing of a spring you can copy if you want.
 
Yes, sir please give
 
8:30 AM
That's a collection of clipart I use in my drawings. There's a spring in that collection.
 
@JohnRennie Thank you so much
 
You're welcome :-)
 
psa
@JohnRennie still a bit confused
 
@psa about the heat capacity question?
 
psa
yeah
the number of molecules $N = (moles)(N_A)$ but I don't see how that helps
 
8:40 AM
Let's take the first example, F2.
 
psa
OK
 
The molecular weight of F2 is 38, so for one gram N = Na/38.
So $C_v = \tfrac12 \frac{N_a}{38} f k$
 
psa
ah
 
$f = 5$ - three translational and two rotational
 
psa
I see
 
8:44 AM
@JohnRennie so we concider low temperature to ignore vibrational ones.
 
It says room temperature ...
 
@JohnRennie oh I see. But is there any standard temperature after which I should consider the vibrational ones?
 
Vibrational modes only start getting excited at hundreds of degrees C
 
@JohnRennie for all gases?
@JohnRennie I mean ie there is a Boyle temperature and inversion temperature is there any standard temperature?
For getting the vibrational modes.
 
No, because it depends on the energy of the vibration. The vibrational modes become important when kT is comparable to the energy of the vibration.
At room temp $kT \approx 1/40$ eV
And vibrational energies span a range of roughly 0.05 to 0.5 eV.
 
8:50 AM
@JohnRennie OK I see.
 
So the lowest energy vibrations will start becoming significant not that far above room temp, but in most cases it needs more like a temperature of 1000K.
We can probably Google for the F-F vibrational energy if you're curious.
 
@JohnRennie ok
 
psa
How many quad. DoF do we get for ammonia? 3 translational, 3 rotational, and if we were to assume the temperature was high enough to activate the vibrational modes, 6 vibrational?
also, the numbers from the CRC handbook for iron actually match 6 degrees of freedom
 
For complicated molecules the simplest approach is just to say that the total DOFs = 3N, where N is the number of atoms in the molecule
So that's 3 translational, 3 rotational and 3N-6 vibrational
 
psa
I guess Iron's vibrational modes are actually activated at room temperature
 
8:58 AM
And as I recall each vibrational DOF has an energy of kT i.e. twice as large as the translational and rotational DOFs.
@psa iron is a solid and that makes life more complicated.
 
psa
oh interesting
oh right, yes, that's because each term is counted
i.e. each vibrational DOF has two normal modes
 
For a solid there are no translational DOFs because, well, it's a solid so the atoms can't go anywhere.
And for an elemental solid like iron there are no rotational DOFs because single atoms can't rotate.
 
@JohnRennie so in conclusion iron has no internal energy?
 
psa
They could jiggle around a bit if nothing was frozen out though couldn't they?
 
So we only get vibrational DOFs due to the vibration of the atoms around their equilibrium position.
And there are three vibrational DOFs, so the heat capacity is 3Nk
 
psa
9:02 AM
yeah, the way I understand it, every quadratic term is counted, so for vibrational modes if you simplify it to be like a SHM, you get two quadratic terms (I guess you could argue the kinetic terms aren't independent, but from what I understand, experiments have verified that you really do have to count both independently)
 
Yes. A vibrational mode contributes $kT$ not $\tfrac12kT$
So the molar heat capacity of an elemental solid is approximately $3R$.
 
@JohnRennie so it is an exception to equipartition of energy.
 
@Nobodyrecognizeable huh?
What has equipartition of energy got to do with it?
 
psa
$\frac{1}{2}kT$ comes from the equipartition theorem
 
@JohnRennie equipartition energy states for each degree of freedom has KT/2 energy. While vibrational modes have KT.
 
psa
9:05 AM
@Nobodyrecognizeable it's not an exception, it's just that you have to count each normal mode, and for vibrations, there's actually two normal modes
 
The EPT says every available DOF gets an energy $\tfrac12kT$, and each vibrational mode has two DOFs.
 
psa
if you think of it like a spring, there's two quadratic terms $\frac{1}{2}kx^2 + \frac{1}{2}mv^2$
 
@JohnRennie why does vibrational modes have two degrees of freedom?
 
I can't remember the argument. I would have to Google it, which you could do for yourself.
 
@psa but the second one is for translation isn't it?
 
psa
9:06 AM
it's not
 
@JohnRennie np
 
psa
there's a difference between CoM motion and internal motion here
that distinction is important when you're talking about DoF
the kinetic terms for each translation $\frac{1}{2}mv^2$ are separate for that reason
 
@psa so it's internal motion?
 
psa
yes
it's confusing but it's true, it's also verified by experiment
 
psa
9:11 AM
I just read that a few days ago myself
 
9:38 AM
@JohnRennie: Hi sir.
 
@GuruVishnu hi :-)
 
@JohnRennie Are you free now?
 
Yes
 
I've already received an answer from a good user. But do you have anything more to say about this question sir - physics.stackexchange.com/q/526618/238167
Before I proceed to accept the existing answer.
I asked that question when you were busy here sir.
 
In practice lines from different elements only very rarely overlap.
So given that know the lines for e.g. sodium, we can go through our spectrum and remove every line for sodium.
 
9:41 AM
@JohnRennie Ok sir. The main problem I thought was - how to find whether one particular element is due to one particular element.
@JohnRennie Ok sir. Now understood.
@JohnRennie: But what if there exists some other element which looks the same as that of the combination?
 
Suppose you find a line that had the same wavelength as a sodium line, then it's 99% probable that it's due to sodium.
(because elemental lines almost never overlap)
If you find another or two more lines that match sodium then you are almost certain that sodium is there.
 
@JohnRennie Is there any simple reason behind this fact sir?
 
The positions of lines is effectively random. It's actually related to the electronic structure of the atom, but that's so complicated that there is little or no correlation between the lines in different atoms.
And the width of a line is small compared to the gaps between the lines.
So just by random chance if you scatter lines at random it's unlikely two lines will overlap.
 
@JohnRennie: Thank you sir. Will you copy your messages into an answer, so that I could cast my votes. I think this explanation is also great.
 
It does happen, and offhand I don't know what percentage of lines overlap, but it happens rarely enough that it's easy to separate the lines from different elements.
@GuruVishnu I wouldn't copy the answer as it is.
It's too vague. You would need to quantify what fraction of lines overlap.
 
9:47 AM
@JohnRennie No sir. I didn't ask you to copy the existing answer. But the messages in the chatroom.
If it's not possible, no problem
 
I don't know what that fraction is, but you could probably Google for it.
 
Is you explanation same for the following message I sent previously, sir?
5 mins ago, by Guru Vishnu
@JohnRennie: But what if there exists some other element which looks the same as that of the combination?
 
Yes, basically no two elements look the same.
 
@JohnRennie Ok sir. Could you please tell what should I reply to the following comment: I think I'm in a small trouble.
What is observed is not the emission spectrum but the absorption lines, Fraunhofer lines. Atomic lines are narrow. — Pieter 6 mins ago
As far as I know Fraunhofer lines are dark lines observed from sun light.
I also learnt about it from Wiki.
 
Correct. It happens because light from the Sun is absorbed by atoms in the corona.
The Sun produces mainly black body radiation i.e. a continuous range of wavelengths.
 
9:52 AM
@JohnRennie Yes sir. No problem in understanding that :-) The user thought my image:
is scientifically accurate.
But it isn't. How and what should I reply?
This is something which I don't much about.
 
Niels's answer looks fine to me. I would just accept it.
 
@JohnRennie Yes sir. It's good. Usually, I give some time before answer arrives and then accepting. I'll give it some more thought and ask any doubts if any. I used to imagine what if even more answers come in? Will they stop writing just because I accepted one already? The ultimate goal of mine is to learn more interesting stuff.
 
Admittedly he though you meant emission lines, but emission and absorption lines have the same wavelengths. Which you get just depends on what you're looking at.
As a general rule a question stops attracting answers as soon as an answer is accepted.
 
@JohnRennie Why did Mr.Fraunhofer come in?
 
Presumably Fraunhofer was the first to observe the dark lines.
Wikipedia says:
> In 1802, the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston[2] was the first person to note the appearance of a number of dark features in the solar spectrum.[3] In 1814, Fraunhofer independently rediscovered the lines and began to systematically study and measure the wavelengths where these features are observed.
Stigler's law strikes again :-)
 
9:58 AM
:-)
Or may be as per "_Atomic lines are narrow._" :: Are the lines in my image very fat?
 
Though it seems Fraunhofer studied the lines in much more depth than Wollaston so naming the lines after him is probably fair.
@GuruVishnu I doubt anyone will take your spectrum that literally.
It's obviously just meant as an illustration.
 
@JohnRennie Unfortunately, he did :-)
@JohnRennie Yes sir.
 
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