Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Interesting Experiments in Electromagnetic Waves

There are many known phenomenon that any theory of electromagnetic waves must fit with.   My theory is that Maxwell's equations are right and the medium is electrons around matter.   I don't know of any experiment that refutes Maxwell's equations.   I list here some interesting experiments related to electromagnetic waves.



  1. Aberation of light Movement of Earth around the sun can make stars locations appear to change.
  2. Absorption  Matter can absorb light.
  3. Birefringe Certain materials can split a ray of light into two beams.
  4. Blackbody Radiation  As the temperature goes up the distribution of radiation given off by matter shifts higher and higher.  
  5. Bragg's Law  Bragg's law gives the angles for coherent and incoherent scattering from a crystal lattice. When X-rays are incident on an atom, they make the electronic cloud move as does any electromagnetic wave. The movement of these charges re-radiates waves with the same frequency (blurred slightly due to a variety of effects); this phenomenon is known as Rayleigh scattering (or elastic scattering).  Electron waves theory fits.
  6. Bremsstrahlung  Electromagnetic radiation produced by the deceleration of a charged particle when deflected by another charged particle, typically an electron by an atomic nucleus. 
  7. Compton Effect  Light can lose energy to matter and knock an electron free.  When it does this the light's frequency is reduced.
  8. Cyclotron Radiation An electron moving in a magnetic field produces electromagnetic waves.
  9. Diffraction   Light can be made to interfere with itself.
  10. Discrete Dipole Approximation You can model atoms as dipoles interacting with each other by their electric fields and accurately model the optical properties.  This is very much like the electron waves theory.
  11.  Dispersion   In some things, like a prism, the speed of light depends on the frequency.   
  12. Double-slit experiment   Light can give interference even when reduced to levels we call "one photon at a time".
  13.  Faraday effect   A magnetic field can cause the plane of polarization for light to rotate. 
  14. Fizeau experiment   Speed of light in moving water.  Seems to work with an ether drag theory so may be ok with electron waves theory.  
  15. Gravity effects  Light going down is blue-shifted and light going up is red-shifted.   Going sideways past gravity well it is curved some.
  16. Infrared Spectroscopy Molecules have certain vibrational modes that give off electromagnetic waves at certain frequencies that can be used to identify the molecules.
  17. Klein-Nishina formula Gives the range of scattering angle for different frequencies of light interacting with an electron. 
  18. Lorentz ether theory  This ether theory gets the same answers as special relativity.   So it seems that electron waves should work.  In this theory electrons are separate from the ether though.
  19. Magneto-optic Kerr effect  Light reflected off magnetic surfaces can change in polarization and intensity. 
  20. Michelson-Morley Light is not moving relative to some ether that is at any significant speed relative to the experiment.
  21. Molecular Vibration  Molecules have different types of vibration that can absorb and give off energy.
  22. Photoelectric effect   Light can make electrons come off matter.  At the right frequency an electron wave could make electrons come loose.   If the light is in resonance with the electrons period in its orbital then the electron could absorb energy and  get to a higher energy level, possibly free from the atom.
  23. Photoconductivity  Light can free up some electrons in matter and change the conductivity.  
  24. Polarization   Light waves can have an orientation.  Certain things, like polarized glasses, will only let light with the right orientation through.
  25. Rayleigh scattering The elastic scattering of light or other electromagnetic radiation by particles much smaller than the wavelength of the light, which may be individual atoms or molecules.
  26. Reflection Light can reflect off mirrors and other surfaces.
  27. Refraction Light bends when it moves between different medium where it has different speeds.
  28. Propagation in vacuum of space - see other post. 
  29. Rotational Spectroscopy  Microwaves can cause molecules to spin.  In doing so they absorb energy and release when they spin down.
  30. Photochemistry  Some chemical reactions need light, like photosynthesis.  
  31. Phosphor  Some things can emit light of different frequencies than what they are excited with. 
  32. Snell's Law Light moving between different mediums where it travels at different speeds curves like a wave should curve.
  33. Stark effect   A static electric field can split light into spectra.
  34. Stimulated Emission Atoms can release their energy so it has the same phase, frequency, polarization, and direction of some light going past them.   This is used in lasers.
  35. Wikipedia index of optical articles
  36. Wikipedia index of optical phenomenon
  37. Zeeman effect   A static magnetic field can split light into spectra.

I will be adding to this list and welcome any suggestions in comments.


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