r/AskPhysics•
litehacker

Minimum velocity of electron to make a photon

Hello, please let me know if not understanding something here:

In classical electromagnetism, an electromagnetic wave is formed by moving electrons back and forth.

The faster you move them back and forth, the higher the frequency.

The higher the Amperage, higher the intensity of the wave.

We know from quantum mechanics that wave intensity is actually the number of photons. The higher the photons, the more intense the wave.

So then amperage is correlated to number of photons?

Amperage is Coulombs per Second.

Coulombs per second => the number of electrons moving through a wire every second.

If I want to build a circuit that moves electrons back and forth, but with amperage low enough, that it's insufficient to radiate a photon, what would that amperage be? How slow do electrons need to be moving, that they won't radiate any photons? Regardless of the frequency.

Posted Jun 26, 2017, 8:30 PM UTC

33
Loading comments…