Ok lets say I buy that then how does the shape come about some sort of probability formula embedded in the atomic structure?
Your example above sort of assumes the orbitals are empty. The filament of an incandescent bulb Tungsten has around 74 electrons for example. You basically have 74 electrons rattling around is the same as one electron in hydrogen rattling around between levels. The problem is if you divid the heat energy by 74 into each electron based on energy the emission will be much lower than the single atom case.
What I am getting at is, an atom with one electron, is behaving the same as one with 13 or 33 or 74 or 98. It can't be just the outer electrons involved because you need all the frequencies so the larger atoms with more electrons have to push other electrons out causing multiple emissions yet the emission shape stays the same matching a formula?
I think you might want to read the formula of that graph that Planck derived about the energy relationship regardless of if you except the reason there is a ratio between the energy and the spectrum which you need to account for.
However at this forum level I am not sure it matters how you want to think of the process so long as you recognize the strange graph shape as a thermal signature it will do. So the sun emission of light is thermal and we can stop there.
The extension is are you happy the surface of the sun doing the emission is around 5000K even though we will never be able to go there and measure directly.
Last edited by Orac; 07/09/16 06:11 AM.
