what makes it glow?

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From: Bill Taylor (bt4_1284@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Apr 18 2003 - 17:43:38 PDT 

Message-ID: <20030419004338.19396.qmail@web40411.mail.yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 17:43:38 -0700 (PDT)
From: Bill Taylor <bt4_1284@yahoo.com>
Subject: what makes it glow?

If we heat a piece of metal to high temperature, such as a lamp filament,
it begins to glow - i.e. to emit EM radiation. Some of this radiation we
"see" as light, other of it we "feel" as IR radiation.

What happens at the atomic / molecular level that causes the solid to
emit?

Near as I can tell from reading, it is "blackbody" radiation, proportional
to T^4, and given by E = hf. (The inverse process is the photoelectric
effect?) Photons are generated by the electrons falling out of an excited
state (which they presumably got into by being heated) and back into their
stable orbits. Same idea as emission spectrum of gasses when under high
voltage.

Is this right?

Bill Taylor

=====
Bill Taylor
San Francisco
415 661 9667

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