Light (Where does it come from... Where does it go?)

[Santa Clause 2k9]

One of the best scientists in the world was obviously the one and only... Einstein. One of Einstein's saying, well, a speech, which was not that popular was this!

Child - "Sir, where has that light come from on the candle?"

Einstein - "I'll tell you" He blows the candle out! "If you tell me where that light just went!"

This small conversation, to this day, has puzzled me, Einstein has a very good point, and so does the child for that matter! Where has it actually come from? And where has it gone? neutral

[viper232]

Mr_Dark_Devil

One of the best scientists in the world was obviously the one and only... Einstein. One of Einstein's saying, well, a speech, which was not that popular was this!

Child - "Sir, where has that light come from on the candle?"

Einstein - "I'll tell you" He blows the candle out! "If you tell me where that light just went!"

This small conversation, to this day, has puzzled me, Einstein has a very good point, and so does the child for that matter! Where has it actually come from? And where has it gone? neutral

I have no idea if this is real... but I can imagine Einstein would be kind to a kid instead of getting technical.

The light is coming from electrons changing orbitals and releasing photons, when an electron drops an energy level it releases light, that light then travels to your eye, so the best answer is "all of the excited particles from the hot fire are generating light".

When you blow the candle out the light continues traveling at c, what doesn't get absorbed by your eye and turned into information is probably quickly absorbed by other things in the room, all done so quickly that it just seems like the light "vanishes". But because the candle has just been blown out, the fire stops providing heat to particles, and electrons no longer get really really excited and drop down energy levels releasing photons, instead the only blackbody light emitted by the system is too low frequency to be seen by the naked eye.

[Santa Clause 2k9]

viper232

Mr_Dark_Devil

One of the best scientists in the world was obviously the one and only... Einstein. One of Einstein's saying, well, a speech, which was not that popular was this!

Child - "Sir, where has that light come from on the candle?"

Einstein - "I'll tell you" He blows the candle out! "If you tell me where that light just went!"

This small conversation, to this day, has puzzled me, Einstein has a very good point, and so does the child for that matter! Where has it actually come from? And where has it gone? neutral

I have no idea if this is real... but I can imagine Einstein would be kind to a kid instead of getting technical.

The light is coming from electrons changing orbitals and releasing photons, when an electron drops an energy level it releases light, that light then travels to your eye, so the best answer is "all of the excited particles from the hot fire are generating light".

When you blow the candle out the light continues traveling at c, what doesn't get absorbed by your eye and turned into information is probably quickly absorbed by other things in the room, all done so quickly that it just seems like the light "vanishes". But because the candle has just been blown out, the fire stops providing heat to particles, and electrons no longer get really really excited and drop down energy levels releasing photons, instead the only blackbody light emitted by the system is too low frequency to be seen by the naked eye.

I know all this, but what he is insinuating, where has it gone, it's hard to explain, especially online! If you used common sense, rather than constant science (Yes Einstein did not always comment in science) you might get what i am saying. stare

[viper232]

Mr_Dark_Devil

viper232

Mr_Dark_Devil

One of the best scientists in the world was obviously the one and only... Einstein. One of Einstein's saying, well, a speech, which was not that popular was this!

Child - "Sir, where has that light come from on the candle?"

Einstein - "I'll tell you" He blows the candle out! "If you tell me where that light just went!"

This small conversation, to this day, has puzzled me, Einstein has a very good point, and so does the child for that matter! Where has it actually come from? And where has it gone? neutral

I have no idea if this is real... but I can imagine Einstein would be kind to a kid instead of getting technical.

The light is coming from electrons changing orbitals and releasing photons, when an electron drops an energy level it releases light, that light then travels to your eye, so the best answer is "all of the excited particles from the hot fire are generating light".

When you blow the candle out the light continues traveling at c, what doesn't get absorbed by your eye and turned into information is probably quickly absorbed by other things in the room, all done so quickly that it just seems like the light "vanishes". But because the candle has just been blown out, the fire stops providing heat to particles, and electrons no longer get really really excited and drop down energy levels releasing photons, instead the only blackbody light emitted by the system is too low frequency to be seen by the naked eye.

I know all this, but what he is insinuating, where has it gone, it's hard to explain, especially online! If you used common sense, rather than constant science (Yes Einstein did not always comment in science) you might get what i am saying. stare

Einstein often commented on philosophy yes, but this is the "science and technology" sub-forum, and "light" is a pretty easy topic to cover scientifically, you've provided no real philosophical basis for discussion other than a quip Einstein made.

So I provided you with the simple explanation because it is accurate, suitable for the forum, and was not given much else to go off of.

[Santa Clause 2k9]

viper232

Mr_Dark_Devil

viper232

Mr_Dark_Devil

One of the best scientists in the world was obviously the one and only... Einstein. One of Einstein's saying, well, a speech, which was not that popular was this!

Child - "Sir, where has that light come from on the candle?"

Einstein - "I'll tell you" He blows the candle out! "If you tell me where that light just went!"

This small conversation, to this day, has puzzled me, Einstein has a very good point, and so does the child for that matter! Where has it actually come from? And where has it gone? neutral

I have no idea if this is real... but I can imagine Einstein would be kind to a kid instead of getting technical.

The light is coming from electrons changing orbitals and releasing photons, when an electron drops an energy level it releases light, that light then travels to your eye, so the best answer is "all of the excited particles from the hot fire are generating light".

When you blow the candle out the light continues traveling at c, what doesn't get absorbed by your eye and turned into information is probably quickly absorbed by other things in the room, all done so quickly that it just seems like the light "vanishes". But because the candle has just been blown out, the fire stops providing heat to particles, and electrons no longer get really really excited and drop down energy levels releasing photons, instead the only blackbody light emitted by the system is too low frequency to be seen by the naked eye.

I know all this, but what he is insinuating, where has it gone, it's hard to explain, especially online! If you used common sense, rather than constant science (Yes Einstein did not always comment in science) you might get what i am saying. stare

Einstein often commented on philosophy yes, but this is the "science and technology" sub-forum, and "light" is a pretty easy topic to cover scientifically, you've provided no real philosophical basis for discussion other than a quip Einstein made.

So I provided you with the simple explanation because it is accurate, suitable for the forum, and was not given much else to go off of.

Ow, by the way, i just checked online, your wikipedia copy & paste skills are AMAZING! stare

[Layra-chan]

It goes into your eyes and gets absorbed by electrons there and is used to change the foldings of proteins; the energy the light carries gets dissipated as work (refolding proteins) and heat.

Common sense is for those who can't think.

[viper232]

Mr_Dark_Devil

viper232

Mr_Dark_Devil

viper232

Mr_Dark_Devil

One of the best scientists in the world was obviously the one and only... Einstein. One of Einstein's saying, well, a speech, which was not that popular was this!

Child - "Sir, where has that light come from on the candle?"

Einstein - "I'll tell you" He blows the candle out! "If you tell me where that light just went!"

This small conversation, to this day, has puzzled me, Einstein has a very good point, and so does the child for that matter! Where has it actually come from? And where has it gone? neutral

I have no idea if this is real... but I can imagine Einstein would be kind to a kid instead of getting technical.

The light is coming from electrons changing orbitals and releasing photons, when an electron drops an energy level it releases light, that light then travels to your eye, so the best answer is "all of the excited particles from the hot fire are generating light".

When you blow the candle out the light continues traveling at c, what doesn't get absorbed by your eye and turned into information is probably quickly absorbed by other things in the room, all done so quickly that it just seems like the light "vanishes". But because the candle has just been blown out, the fire stops providing heat to particles, and electrons no longer get really really excited and drop down energy levels releasing photons, instead the only blackbody light emitted by the system is too low frequency to be seen by the naked eye.

I know all this, but what he is insinuating, where has it gone, it's hard to explain, especially online! If you used common sense, rather than constant science (Yes Einstein did not always comment in science) you might get what i am saying. stare

Einstein often commented on philosophy yes, but this is the "science and technology" sub-forum, and "light" is a pretty easy topic to cover scientifically, you've provided no real philosophical basis for discussion other than a quip Einstein made.

So I provided you with the simple explanation because it is accurate, suitable for the forum, and was not given much else to go off of.

Ow, by the way, i just checked online, your wikipedia copy & paste skills are AMAZING! stare

... Ironic because I actually didn't actually copy from wiki, nor do I need to. It's not like I haven't studied the subject before @_@

Edit: For that matter, I didn't provide a technical description at all, if the wording on wiki is similar to what I've got here, if it actually seems copy and pasted, then whatever wiki article you believed I copy and pasted from is in DESPERATE need of a cleanup. Which article needs cleaning up then?

[viper232]

Layra-chan

It goes into your eyes and gets absorbed by electrons there and is used to change the foldings of proteins; the energy the light carries gets dissipated as work (refolding proteins) and heat.

Common sense is for those who can't think.

I like that quote, I'm gonna steal it from now on 3nodding

[VorpalNeko]

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." -- A. Einstein
Irony++;

[IronySandwich]

Mr_Dark_Devil

I know all this, but what he is insinuating, where has it gone, it's hard to explain, especially online! If you used common sense, rather than constant science (Yes Einstein did not always comment in science) you might get what i am saying. stare

Why is it hard to explain? If you know what light is (photons) then you no where it went (they were absorbed or radiated). In this supposed conversation, Einstein could have easily explained how the light from earlier kept moving (hence, why it was no longer there) in a way that any child could understand.

[VorpalNeko]

I've doubt that it is a genuine Einstein quote/anecdote. The only interesting philosophical issue possibly raised by it is whether it makes sense at all to talk of photons in transit, but Einstein's answer would have been that of a hardline realist--and this positions immediately breaks the symmetry of the situation (light leave far away somewhere, but doesn't need to come from far away to be produced), and therefore removes pretty much any conceivable point to the story.

If it's indeed apocryphal, then attributing it to Bohr or some other Copenhagenist would've made slightly more sense.

[Mecill]

It is also unclear to me why he would answer the kid in this way, if this is indeed a real quote... The literal explanation given by Viper doesn't really explain why (though it is a good one to understand the science of what is going on). As this question is related to science this forum is probably the only place to ask such a question on this site. The only other thing I can think of is that it could be looking at it from the perspective of the energy before and after. Anyway, if you are still wondering about something else try to ask a more specific question.

[Celes_29]

If i could remember the specific experiment then i would tell you but it went something like you are firing one photon at a time trough (i dont remember what it was specifically, but it is like two slits) but instead of acting like a particle it appears to go through both slits at once...

I wish i could remember well... it was so interesting....

[viper232]

Celes_29

If i could remember the specific experiment then i would tell you but it went something like you are firing one photon at a time trough (i dont remember what it was specifically, but it is like two slits) but instead of acting like a particle it appears to go through both slits at once...

I wish i could remember well... it was so interesting....

You're describing the double slit experiment. Which is pretty neat just with photons but gets even neater when you conduct it with electrons, it shows the principle of quantum superposition, how the position of the particle is ill-defined until measured.

[whateverfloats]

Light is a wave/particle.

I remember asking my high school chemistry teacher how an electron could have a high probability of being on one side of the nucleolus and a high probability of being on the other side, as in a p-orbital, but a low probability of being in the middle. He invoked the wave property of light and confused the hell out of me, introducing me to the notion of the dual nature of light. I'm still confused but at least I can rest assured that everyone else is as well.