Electronics And Radiation Whether it is radio, television, radar, or wireless telephone, it is all based on neg-pos radiation which originates from the motion of electrons. As appears in my essay on the mechanism of electric current, when the speed of a moving electron is reduced, it radiates a neg-pos pair at right angles to the wire and with orientation of the pair in a line parallel to the wire. In that essay, the radiation occured only at the instant that a current was turned off. If we could get a clicker that would turn off the current with regular frequency, we could broadcast via neg-pos. An alternative is to produce alternating current with a frequency of about a million cycles per second. In that case, in each cycle, the speed of the electron would drop from maximum to zero twice. With each drop in speed, a pair of neg-pos departs from each active electron. If the neg-pos has the neg on the right and the pos on the left for the first half cycle, the neg-pos will have the pos on the right and the neg on the left for the second half cycle. That is precisely the case in radio transmission. The radio transmitter produces an alternating current of high frequency. The radio receiver has two essential parts, a coil. and a capacitor. A matched pair of coil and capacitor is in tune with one particular frequency. In order to be able to tune in other frequencies, the capacitor is a variable capacitor whose capacity is controlled by turning a knob. In our present discussion, a single frequency will do. A wire a few feet long could serve as an antenna. For each frequency there is an optimum length, but any length will get some results. When a neg-pos pair arrives at the antenna, it pushes one electron in the direction that is perpendicular to the path that the neg-pos has traveled, and parallel to the orientation of the neg-pos pair. Furthermore the electron is attracted to the pos, and moves in the posward direction. Before the electron moves a considerable distance along the wire, it is struck by the next neg-pos pair from the same transmitter, causing it to reverse direction. All things being equal, the same electron will continue to oscillate at that fequency as long as that signal keeps up. In reality, there are many influences in the wire that interfere with the motion of the electron, and orderly motion cannot be sustained. The antenna is pelted with signals from any number of sources. It is up to the tuner to assist the signal whose frequency matches its own. The tuner attracts electrons for an instant, then repels electrons the next instant. It acts like an alternating current generator. For the instant that the tuner welcomes electrons, it causes a shortage of electrons in the immediate vicinity. Electrons that are moving toward the tuner are not barred passage. The welcome atmosphere rapidly passes along the wire, making it easy for those electrons that are moving in the same direction to continue unhindered. In the following instant, electrons are repelled by the tuner, crowding the immediate vicinity with electrons. The excess of electrons pushes other electrons. The push passes along the wire, encouraging the motion of the electrons that are being pushed in that direction by neg-pos pairs. Let us not be deceived by the tuner's resemblance to a generator. It is not the source of power. The power comes from those neg-pos pairs that are in step with the tuner. The drive that these neg-pos pairs have, they were given by the transmitter that broadcast them. As is the case with direct current, the signal that comes from the source in the form of neg-pos, moves along the wire (in this case -- the antenna) at the speed of light. For the most effective antenna length, the signal reaches the far end of the antenna in the interval between arrivals of neg-pos pairs. Since we know the speed of light and the length of the antenna, we can easily calculate the wavelength of the radio signal. It is two times the length of the antenna. In recent years antennas have been shortened to almost disappearance, but this is possible only because radio sets have become more efficient. The point is that a typical wavelength is in the neighborhood of ten thousand centimeters. All radiation consists of neg and pos, as all matter is composed of neg and pos. However there is great variation in the details. Light is one of the many forms of radiation. The peculiar thing about light is that its neg-pos pairs come in packets. The wavelength of light is about 5 hundred-thousandths of a centimeter. Its frequency is 500 quintillion cycles per second. The speed of light is 30 billion centimeters per second. With these data and some easy calculation, one discovers that in one billionth of a second a neg-pos pair travels 30 centimeters. Experiments show that it takes one billionth of a second for an atom to emit one packet of light, a photon. If the photon consists of neg-pos pairs, being emitted with alternating orientation, from an electron, the distance between the first pair and the last pair will be 30 centimeters. Every photon must have that same length. There are two pairs per cycle. A little calculation yields something in the neighborhood of a hundred billion bits per photon. Now we see the difference between radiation by radio and radiation by photons. Radio signal is continuous, but photons come in packets. Visible light comes in photons of various quantities of neg-pos. In addition, some photons are in the infrared range, with fewer bits, while some photons are in the ultraviolet range with more bits per photon. Photons of visible light are emitted by electrons. Ordinarily an electron in an atom occupies a fixed location at which all of the forces between that electron and the rest of the pieces of that atom cancel each other, and the net force on that electron is zero. When another atom interacts with our atom, it disturbs our electron, causing it to move away from its point of zero net force. During the interaction, some neg-pos is transferred from the intruding atoms to the electron. As a result of the disturbance, the electron is in a position of more-than-zero force. It is attracted to its point of zero force, but in moving in that direction, the electron gains speed, causing it to overshoot the point. As it flies through the point, it enters a region in which, the farther it goes, the greater the force opposing its motion. Thus the electron oscillates like a pendulum. It does not take long for another interaction to occur and change the behavior of the electron. The electron may then gain or lose neg-pos, and to that extent increase or decrease its motion. The excited electron's oscillation has a wider swing when it has more neg-pos. At different distances the rate of growth of the restoring force may change. For short distances, for each increase in distance, there is a corresponding increase in restoring force. For longer distances, there are critical points at which the growth of force per gain of distance is not exactly one for one. As a result there is a point at which an increase of neg-pos would not contribute to the continuation of oscillation at the original frequency. The electron can oscillate only at certain fixed frequencies determined by the number of critical distances it passes through. The list of frequencies that an electron can use is called its spectrum. It usually extends from infrared to ultraviolet, inclusive. When the electron is exactly at a critical point, it starts to repel neg-pos pairs in rhythm with its oscillations. The electron starts its trip toward the zero point gaining speed as it goes. Its speed is at a maximum as it passes the zero. After that it slows down. During its loss of speed the electron emits a neg-pos pair. This time the electron does not reach the critical distance because, having lost one neg-pos pair it has lost an equivalent amount of motion. Its maximum speed as it passes the zero point is a trifle less this time. Having passed the point, the electron loses another neg-pos pair and another amount of motion. The electron oscillates at the rate of about a hundred billion cycles per billionth of a second. The product at that moment is one photon, 30 centimeters long, moving at the speed of light in a vacuum. A cycle has four parts: 1. the electron moves toward zero from left to right 2. the electron moves away from zero from left to right 3. the electron moves toward zero from right to left 4. the electron moves away from zero from right to left. The first pair of neg-pos flies off with its neg-pos parallel to the path of the electron and with neg on the right. The next pair has the neg on the left. When a photon interacts with matter, it can be passed, redirected, deflected, reflected, or absorbed. When the electron that receives a photon responds by oscillating with the same frequency as the photon's, the photon is absorbed, neg-pos pair by neg-pos pair as fast as they arrive. The electron gains speed with each cycle until the whole photon has arrived. One might expect the photon to be reemitted, but the fact is that some of the neg-pos has been transferred to other parts of the atom. The result is that the critical point has not been reached. The electron is never alone. It is always interacting with every other part of the atom, which, in turn, has been interacting with the environment. In describing the transmission of radio signals, we had to explain how one set of neg-pos pairs could be selected to propel the electrons in the antenna of the receiver, because signals of all frequencies were arriving and competing with each other. The problem was solved by connecting a tuned circuit to the antenna. There is another way to establish the dominance of one frequency. It can be done by proximity. The source of the neg-pos pairs is the electron. The antenna wire of the transmitter carries a current of a tremendous number of electrons. As a group, the electrons emit neg-pos in all directions. The farther the emitted neg-pos pairs travel, the more widely they separate from each other. As a result, the signal weakens when the distance is greater, because fewer neg-pos pairs arrive together. Therefore, a receiving antenna held close to a transmitting antenna, and oriented parallel to the antenna, needs no tuning circuits to receive that frequency in preference to all others. A very simple transmitter can consist of a single wire. Take a lamp cord, which is still connected to its lamp, and cut one of the wires in the cord. Strip an inch of insulation from the two free ends, where the wire has been cut. Reconnect by a six feet length of single wire. Arrange the single wire so that a section of it lies in a straight line, distant from its original position. Prepare another single wire, and place it parallel to the first single wire at some reasonable distance. Plug in the lamp and turn it on. Now you will discover that there is a voltage across the free wire. You might be able to connect a flashlight bulb or a meter to the free wire to demonstrate it. This works with alternating current, but not with direct current. What that indicates is that neg-pos is emitted faster than it is being received, only while electrons are losing motion. Direct current has steady motion, exept when the switch is thrown. This principle is put to use in transformers. Convert the straight line of wire into a circular loop. Our test wire can be looped and placed on top of the first loop. The result is that the induced voltage is equal to the voltage across the first loop. Add a second test loop, and that also has the same induced voltage. Connect the two test loops in series, and it has a voltage twice as high as that of the original loop. For that reason, it is possible for a hundred volt generator to produce a 10,000 volt supply, through a transformer. Just have a hundred times as many turns in the secondary coil as in the primary coil. There is one other problem. There is a limit to how much current can be delivered. To solve this problem, a soid iron cylinder is placed inside the space around which the coils lie. The electrons in the iron receive the neg-pos that is emitted by the primary coil. Now, when the electrons slow down, the iron's electrons deliver neg-pos to the secondary coil. This effect in the iron is called magnetism, although it is not anything other than neg-pos and electrons. CAPACITORS There is an interesting question raised when the performance of a capacitor is described. The simplest capacitor consists of two metal squares, ten inches wide. A small hole in the center of a square permits a string to be attached, by which the experimenter can raise or lower the square. When the bottom square lies on a non-conducting surface, and the top square is suspended as close to the bottom square as possible without making contact, wires from a DC electrical source are briefly touched to the squares, giving the squares opposite charges. The voltage of the source is known. The experimenter raises the top square. While the square remains suspended, the voltage from square to square is measured and found to be higher when the distance is greater. That is the mystery. It is usually explainrd by saying that energy expended by the experimenter in lifting one square is added to the potential energy of that square. Most people accept that explanation. The trouble is that the instrument of measurement is a voltmeter. The volt is not a unit of energy, but the electron volt is a unit of energy. When the capacitor is being charged, excess electrons are being deposited on one square while the other square loses an equal number of electrons. When the top square is raised, the number of electrons on each square remains constant. The force between squares also remains constant. The only change is the distance between squares. That alone amounts to an increase in energy. The source of the energy is the experimenter. Now, with a larger quantity of energy, and a constant number of electrons, we have more electron volts than before. If the voltmeter doesn't read higher, turn it in for a new improved model. Or else modify your mathematics. An excellent way to support a theory is to create more evidence for it. Wouldn't it be nice if we could dissect a photon and detect its parts? Well, it has been done already. What is more, the process has been put to practical use in lasers. Lasers group photons that are of one frequency, and move them together at the same time, in the same direction, and in phase. Early model lasers were long tubes that could accommodate photons 30 centimeters long. The latest models are shorter than one centimeter. Therefore the photons are not required to have their beginning pairs matched side by side. They only need to have their phases in step. In effect, that makes the laser beam continuous. When the purpose of the laser is to carry information, the beam must be interrupted for an instant. When the beam is interrupted, that is a zero. When the beam is continuous, that is a one. What used to be dot-dash or dit-dah is now zero-one. That is the kind of signal that is called digital. A zero is an interruption in the series of neg-pos pair emissions. The speed of transmission is improved when fewer neg-pos pairs per photon are included in a "one". The practical applications are computers, digital audio-video, and telephone. The application in physics theory is in the evidence for the neg-pos theory. It shows that a photon really does have a length of 30 centimeters and it is composed of neg-pos pairs in the billions or trillions. Some of the people who work at the practical applications of pulsed lasers are under the impression that the fastest pulsing of the laser implies that the laser ray consists of photons, no matter how short the pulse is. But, since a pulse exists for less time than it takes for a photon to move 30 centimeters, the length of a photon would seem to be shorter than 30 centimeters. In fact, pulsing has become much more rapid than that. I answer that a pulse is a ray of fragments of photons. The equation for the energy of a photon applies to entire photons. A fragment of a photon has energy that is a fraction of the energy of a photon. In fact, the observation of the effects of fragmenting is strong defense for the theory of the 30 centimeter photon. It also supports the neg-pos theory and the bits as the ultimate fundamental particles. ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ How Radio Signals Pass Through Brick Walls ...................................................................................... Just as photons of visible light pass through glass, and not through brick walls, radio signals pass through both of these obstacles. Both light and radio are processions of bit pairs, with successive pairs having alternating orientation. Whereas the light comes in packets called photons, the radio signals are continuous and have unlimited length as long as the transmitter is turned on. The distance between bit pairs in a photon is submicroscopic in length. When a photon encounters a brick wall, the front end passes through several molecules in the space between atoms, or else in the spaces between molecules. Very soon the front pair hits an electron and is absorbed by the electron. Sooner than the first pair can be reemitted, the second pair arrives and is absorbed. When this happens in glass, the photon continues to be absorbed until a mismatch in frequency between the photon and the electron initiates reemission of the photon, which then continues on its path through the glass. When this happens in a brick wall, the oscillation of an electron is transferred to motion of other particles in the atoms, because the arrangement of atoms in a brick is crystals, while the arrangement in glass is not uniform, and not susceptible to relay oscillation among atoms. So photons do not pass through brick walls the way they pass through glass. The distance between successive pairs in a radio signal is always much longer than the length of an entire photon. For that reason, the front pair in a radio signal enters the spaces in a brick until it is absorbed by an electron. Before the second pair arrives at that electron, the first pair has been reemitted. Then each successive pair arrives at the same electron and is reemitted before the third pair arrives. The radio signal passes each electron that it encounters in the brick in the same way, until it gets through the entire thickness of the brick. The radio signal also passes through glass and many other materials. The exception is metal, because instead of oscillating at the frequency of an electron in an atom, the electron in metal oscillates at radio frequency. There are signals of many different frequencies arriving at the same time, causing each electron to move in a crazy way, which is aptly named noise. Sheet metal can be used as shielding against radio signals. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________________________________________________________________________________ __Amplitude Modulartion__ Here is something to think about. An electron emits a photon, and then rests until it receives some fresh energy. A radio antenna emits a continuous wave. It does so because the electrons are emitting small cousins of photons rat-a-tat, like a machine gun, as fast as new rounds enter the chamber. In a radio, the frequency is controlled by the tuned circuit, which is constant in AM broadcast. Each emission is timed, so each new round is spaced behind the preceding round at a constant interval of space and time. A transmitter, sending at another frequency, still uses rounds of the same size as any other transmitter. If we want to vary the strength of the signal, we must fire more electrons, not change the mechanism in an electron. One way to fire more electrons is to have a larger plate in the tube and raise the potential difference between cathode and plate. Amplitude modulation is the varying of the number of the electrons that fly from cathode to plate. The device is a grid that is placed in the path of the electrons. As the voltage of the grid changes, the number of electrons that are permitted to reach the plate varies. The sound that enters a microphone controls the voltage of the grid. That, in turn, controls the number of electrons that will pass a given point at a given time. Sound has a much lower frequency than radiio transmission, and a vry much shorter wavelength. This is true because the velocity of radio is C, and the velocity of sound is 1100 feet per second. Thus, many cycles of radio are sent for each variation of the amplitude of sound. Electrons do not emit waves. They emit bit pairs at regular intervals. The only thing wavy about this is the control over how many electrons will be moving in the antenna; this control being the sound waves that enter the microphone. ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ For another viewpoint on the size of a photon, visit Physics by James Putnam For another believer in the oscillation of electrons in atoms, visit Clarence Dulaney's page.