Photons Electromagnetic radiation

The science known as spectroscopy is a branch of physics that deals with the study of the radiation absorbed, reflected, emitted, or scattered by a substance. Although, strictly speaking, the term radiation only deals with photons (electromagnetic radiation), spectroscopy also involves the interactions of other types of particles, such as neutrons, electrons, and protons, which are used to investigate matter. 

High-energy photons (electromagnetic radiation) traveling at the speed of light Uncharged and not deflected by electric and magnetic fields Denoted by y or °y p particles... 

Gamma Photon - Electromagnetic radiation originating from the nuclei of decaying atoms. 

The development of quantum mechanics enabled chemists to describe electron energies and locations outside the nucleus more accurately than was possible with the planetary model for the atom. The meanings and implications of quantum numbers, photons, electromagnetic radiation, and radial probability distributions are central to describing the atom in terms of quantum mechanics. Other central ideas include the aufbau principle and the uncertainty principle. 

Photons Electromagnetic radiation (a package of energy with zero rest mass)... 

A number of surface-sensitive spectroscopies rely only in part on photons. On the one hand, there are teclmiques where the sample is excited by electromagnetic radiation but where other particles ejected from the sample are used for the characterization of the surface (photons in electrons, ions or neutral atoms or moieties out). These include photoelectron spectroscopies (both x-ray- and UV-based) [89, 9Q and 91], photon stimulated desorption [92], and others. At the other end, a number of methods are based on a particles-in/photons-out set-up. These include inverse photoemission and ion- and electron-stimulated fluorescence [93, M]- All tirese teclmiques are discussed elsewhere in tliis encyclopaedia. 

Electromagnetic radiation of which visible light is but one example has the properties of both particles and waves The particles are called photons, and each possesses an amount of energy referred to as a quantum In 1900 the German physicist Max Planck proposed that the energy of a photon (E) is directly proportional to its frequency (v)... 

Colorimetry, in which a sample absorbs visible light, is one example of a spectroscopic method of analysis. At the end of the nineteenth century, spectroscopy was limited to the absorption, emission, and scattering of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared electromagnetic radiation. During the twentieth century, spectroscopy has been extended to include other forms of electromagnetic radiation (photon spectroscopy), such as X-rays, microwaves, and radio waves, as well as energetic particles (particle spectroscopy), such as electrons and ions. ... 

The focus of this chapter is photon spectroscopy, using ultraviolet, visible, and infrared radiation. Because these techniques use a common set of optical devices for dispersing and focusing the radiation, they often are identified as optical spectroscopies. For convenience we will usually use the simpler term spectroscopy in place of photon spectroscopy or optical spectroscopy however, it should be understood that we are considering only a limited part of a much broader area of analytical methods. Before we examine specific spectroscopic methods, however, we first review the properties of electromagnetic radiation. 

The division of electromagnetic radiation on the basis of a photon s energy. 

The energy of a photon provides an additional characteristic property of electromagnetic radiation. 

In the previous section we defined several characteristic properties of electromagnetic radiation, including its energy, velocity, amplitude, frequency, phase angle, polarization, and direction of propagation. Spectroscopy is possible only if the photon s interaction with the sample leads to a change in one or more of these characteristic properties. 

The first detector for optical spectroscopy was the human eye, which, of course, is limited both by its accuracy and its limited sensitivity to electromagnetic radiation. Modern detectors use a sensitive transducer to convert a signal consisting of photons into an easily measured electrical signal. Ideally the detector s signal, S, should be a linear function of the electromagnetic radiation s power, P,... 

Absorption of a photon is accompanied by the excitation of an electron from a lower-energy atomic orbital to an orbital of higher energy. Not all possible transitions between atomic orbitals are allowed. For sodium the only allowed transitions are those in which there is a change of +1 in the orbital quantum number ) thus transitions from s—orbitals are allowed, but transitions from s d orbitals are forbidden. The wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation that must be absorbed to cause several allowed transitions are shown in Figure 10.18. 

The absorptivity and molar absorptivity give, in effect, the probability that the analyte will absorb a photon of given energy. As a result, values for both a and 8 depend on the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation. 

In the third mechanism excess energy is released as a photon of electromagnetic radiation. 

Atomic and Molecular Energy Levels. Absorption and emission of electromagnetic radiation can occur by any of several mechanisms. Those important in spectroscopy are resonant interactions in which the photon energy matches the energy difference between discrete stationary energy states (eigenstates) of an atomic or molecular system = hv. This is known as the Bohr frequency condition. Transitions between... 

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