Slashdot Mirror

I've been stewing about this for a long time, I've called into NPR talk shows about it, etc. I feel like the Standard Model is irrevocably broken. There's a generation of physicists that really loves the hell out this thing, but it's got so many problems. I was tangentially involved with "proton sigma-r" cross-section experiments at the University of Redlands that violated the Standard Model. A lot of the SM's important values are empirical and "bolted on". A number of its predictions are not yet found (Higgs boson, anyone? Bueller?)

Yes, it predicted a number of cool particles, and sure enough, there they are. It also craps out more and more lately. Neutrinos oscillate, huh? Uh, well, we'll fix that later. Gravity... yeah. That's a bitch. I know! More free variables! We're at 19 now, what's 10 more?

This whole thing smacks of turn-of-the-20th-century Newtonians trying to cobble together a decent explanation for black-body radiators. They tried all kinds of tricks--turns out they didn't work, because the system is not Newtonian. Newtonian physics was awesome for predicting meso-scale behavior, but it's a dog at small and large scales. Similarly, I think, the Standard Model was super-dynamite for a good number of years, but to hang on to it through all these issues should be a red flag that something else might be a better explanation. Kuhn, here we come.

IQ isn't exactly a bell curve. It resembles something more like the blackbody radiation spectra

It's a bell curve. see this reference

BB radiation is quite different

You could also take a course.

Quote, emphasis mine:

Actually, in the fission of 235U, about 83% of the energy appears as the kinetic energy of the fragments, about 2.5% as kinetic energy of the neutrons and about 3.5% in the form of instantly emitted gamma rays. 11% is given off in the subsequent decays of the daughter nuclei.

What the previous poster says is completely wrong. You always get X-rays even from ordinary electrical sparks such as from fuses blowing. The ideas explaining this fact have been known since the theories of quantum mechanics were developed in the 20th century.

Planck's Law states there are emissions of electromagnetic radiation at all wavelengths from zero to infinity, i.e. including visible light, infrared, ultraviolet, x-ray, gamma ray, etc.

Planck's Law of Energy Distribution:

• E(L)= 2.PI.h.c^2 / (L^5 (e^(h.c.k.T/L)-1))

where

• E(L) is the energy emitted [Watts/metre^2/UnitWavelength],
  
  L is the wavelength of emitted radiation [metres],
  
  T is the temperature of the black-body emitter [Kelvin],
  
  c is the speed of light (3x10^8 metres/second),
  
  k is Boltzmann's constant (1.38x10E-23 Joules/Kelvin),
  
  h is Planck's constant (6.62606891 x 10E-34 Joule seconds), and
  
  PI is the mathematical constant (3.14159...)

The electromagnetic emissions are strongest at one wavelength given by

Wien's Law

• L = 0.002898 / T

I think the previous poster has confused total energy dissipation with photon energy which is a function of wavelength (another of Planck's laws: E=hc/L). Although the total energy dissipated when a fuse blows is indeed relatively small, c.0.1 Joules, you nonetheless get electromagnetic emissions at all wavelengths including X-rays by Planck's Law.

There is a simple experiment to give a visible indication that a wide range of wavelengths is emitted by electrical sparks. Wearing gloves and safety eye glasses, connect a short 2cm length of 1Amp fuse wire across the two terminals of a low voltage supply like a 12Volt car battery. The fuse wire will blow. Notice the color of the centre of the spark is roughly white. This is because the temperature of the vaporised metal from the fuse wire, created when the fuse blows, momentarily exceeds 5000K, giving a wavelength of peak emission by Wien's Law of 580nm (green light).

• The reason why you don't see the spark as having a green color is that it is emitting a wide range of wavelengths centered around 580nm which stimulates all three types of the color cone receptors in your eyes nearly equally, so making the color appear white. Your eyes lack X-ray and gamma ray detectors, so you cannot see this radiation being emitted by the fuse.

• The reason why you are not much harmed by the emissions of X-rays and gamma rays from the electrical spark is that the total energy of the emissions at the higher frequencies is very small according to Planck's Law, above, even though the energy of individual photons at the higher frequencies is very high (E=hc/L).

If you want to understand more about the electromagnetic spectrum, there is a great summary of the quantum mechanics of black body radiation here

What the previous poster says is completely wrong. You always get X-rays even from ordinary electrical sparks such as from fuses blowing. The ideas explaining this fact have been known since the theories of quantum mechanics were developed in the 20th century.

Planck's Law states there are emissions of electromagnetic radiation at all wavelengths from zero to infinity, i.e. including visible light, infrared, ultraviolet, x-ray, gamma ray, etc.

Planck's Law of Energy Distribution:

• E(L)= 2.PI.h.c^2 / (L^5 (e^(h.c.k.T/L)-1))

where

• E(L) is the energy emitted [Watts/metre^2/UnitWavelength],
  
  L is the wavelength of emitted radiation [metres],
  
  T is the temperature of the black-body emitter [Kelvin],
  
  c is the speed of light (3x10^8 metres/second),
  
  k is Boltzmann's constant (1.38x10E-23 Joules/Kelvin),
  
  h is Planck's constant (6.62606891 x 10E-34 Joule seconds), and
  
  PI is the mathematical constant (3.14159...)

The electromagnetic emissions are strongest at one wavelength given by

Wien's Law

• L = 0.002898 / T

I think the previous poster has confused total energy dissipation with photon energy which is a function of wavelength (another of Planck's laws: E=hc/L). Although the total energy dissipated when a fuse blows is indeed relatively small, c.0.1 Joules, you nonetheless get electromagnetic emissions at all wavelengths including X-rays by Planck's Law.

There is a simple experiment to give a visible indication that a wide range of wavelengths is emitted by electrical sparks. Wearing gloves and safety eye glasses, connect a short 2cm length of 1Amp fuse wire across the two terminals of a low voltage supply like a 12Volt car battery. The fuse wire will blow. Notice the color of the centre of the spark is roughly white. This is because the temperature of the vaporised metal from the fuse wire, created when the fuse blows, momentarily exceeds 5000K, giving a wavelength of peak emission by Wien's Law of 580nm (green light).

• The reason why you don't see the spark as having a green color is that it is emitting a wide range of wavelengths centered around 580nm which stimulates all three types of the color cone receptors in your eyes nearly equally, so making the color appear white. Your eyes lack X-ray and gamma ray detectors, so you cannot see this radiation being emitted by the fuse.

• The reason why you are not much harmed by the emissions of X-rays and gamma rays from the electrical spark is that the total energy of the emissions at the higher frequencies is very small according to Planck's Law, above, even though the energy of individual photons at the higher frequencies is very high (E=hc/L).

If you want to understand more about the electromagnetic spectrum, there is a great summary of the quantum mechanics of black body radiation here

What the previous poster says is completely wrong. You always get X-rays even from ordinary electrical sparks such as from fuses blowing. The ideas explaining this fact have been known since the theories of quantum mechanics were developed in the 20th century.

Planck's Law states there are emissions of electromagnetic radiation at all wavelengths from zero to infinity, i.e. including visible light, infrared, ultraviolet, x-ray, gamma ray, etc.

Planck's Law of Energy Distribution:

• E(L)= 2.PI.h.c^2 / (L^5 (e^(h.c.k.T/L)-1))

where

• E(L) is the energy emitted [Watts/metre^2/UnitWavelength],
  
  L is the wavelength of emitted radiation [metres],
  
  T is the temperature of the black-body emitter [Kelvin],
  
  c is the speed of light (3x10^8 metres/second),
  
  k is Boltzmann's constant (1.38x10E-23 Joules/Kelvin),
  
  h is Planck's constant (6.62606891 x 10E-34 Joule seconds), and
  
  PI is the mathematical constant (3.14159...)

The electromagnetic emissions are strongest at one wavelength given by

Wien's Law

• L = 0.002898 / T

I think the previous poster has confused total energy dissipation with photon energy which is a function of wavelength (another of Planck's laws: E=hc/L). Although the total energy dissipated when a fuse blows is indeed relatively small, c.0.1 Joules, you nonetheless get electromagnetic emissions at all wavelengths including X-rays by Planck's Law.

There is a simple experiment to give a visible indication that a wide range of wavelengths is emitted by electrical sparks. Wearing gloves and safety eye glasses, connect a short 2cm length of 1Amp fuse wire across the two terminals of a low voltage supply like a 12Volt car battery. The fuse wire will blow. Notice the color of the centre of the spark is roughly white. This is because the temperature of the vaporised metal from the fuse wire, created when the fuse blows, momentarily exceeds 5000K, giving a wavelength of peak emission by Wien's Law of 580nm (green light).

• The reason why you don't see the spark as having a green color is that it is emitting a wide range of wavelengths centered around 580nm which stimulates all three types of the color cone receptors in your eyes nearly equally, so making the color appear white. Your eyes lack X-ray and gamma ray detectors, so you cannot see this radiation being emitted by the fuse.

• The reason why you are not much harmed by the emissions of X-rays and gamma rays from the electrical spark is that the total energy of the emissions at the higher frequencies is very small according to Planck's Law, above, even though the energy of individual photons at the higher frequencies is very high (E=hc/L).

If you want to understand more about the electromagnetic spectrum, there is a great summary of the quantum mechanics of black body radiation here