source file: mills3.txt
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 1997 06:07:43 +0100

Subject: RE: PLANCK CONSTANT

From: mr88cet@texas.net (Gary Morrison)

>>Gary, this is not correct. E = H nu applies to all energy quanta, whether in
>>the form of light, sound, or whatever. The quantum of light is the photon;
>>the quantum of sound is the phonon.

   If by this you mean that sound is conveyed by phonons in the same sense
that light is conveyed by photons, then the more I think about it, the less
I buy it.

   Everything about sound is governed by the laws of fluid (and solid)
mechanics.  And any mechanical interaction, viewed waaaaaaay down at the
sub/atomic atomic level, is ultimately electromagnetic in nature.

   Now there's normally no realistic value in studying sound at the
sub/atomic level, because everything about sound can be modeled many orders
of magnitude more simply at the macroscopic level of mechanics.  But still,
down at the level of fundamental forces, air-pressure is manifested by
collisions of air molecules, and any form of collision is carried out by
repulsion between the electrons in the outer shells of those molecules.
Electron repulsion is in turn carried out by photons.

   Or equivalently, the elasticity of the vibration of a string, a steel
string for example, is manifested at the sub/atomic level by the
distortions of crystaline lattices.  Crystaline lattices are, once again,
generated by electron attraction and repulsion, which again is conveyed by
photons.

   So sound is, at this otherwise not very interesting sub/atomic level,
ultimately conveyed by photons.  The invention of a new particle, the
phonon, seems to be no more than a pointless complication that side-steps
well-accepted physical models for no apparent reason.

   Now presumably I'm not catching on to something, so go ahead and tell me
what it is.


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From:  Carl Lumma <clumma@nni.com>
Subject:  Measures of Scale
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