|
|
|
|
|
|
by drjesusphd
4318 days ago
|
|
|
This is actually a very deep question. If you want a better answer than I'm about to give, read Feynman's QED lecture videos [1] or read the book [2]. The short answer is, they don't. They emit the photon in a random direction. Fine, you say, but what about refraction and reflection, there the photons are emitted in another direction. What makes the atom "decide" what direction to emit a photon after it's absorbed? They don't decide anything, they still just emit in a random direction. The mind fuck is that on the whole, statistically, almost all photons except for those travelling in the direction of refraction/reflection destructively interfere! [1] http://vega.org.uk/video/subseries/8
[2] http://www.amazon.com/QED-Strange-Theory-Light-Matter/dp/069... |
|
|