🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1993Jan25.044246.16642@zip.eecs.umich.edu> monkey@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Monkey King) writes:
>In article <1993Jan25.011105.16977@ns.network.com> logajan@ns.network.com (John Logajan) writes:
>>chuck@coplex.com (Chuck Sites) writes:

>Here is a physics question: when an electron in a atom radiates, which
>particle loses mass -- the electron or the nucleus or both?  For example,
>suppose a proton and an electron at rest, initially unbound, the total mass
>is M = Mp + Me, where Mp and Me are rest mass of the particles, respectively.
>The electron then combines with the proton to form a hydrogen atom in the
>ground state, losing 13.6 eV in the form of radiation.  The total mass of the
>two particles is now M - 13.6 eV.  Now the question is which particle is
>lighter than before?   And why? Can you say here that you can't ask such a
>question because you have to treat the atom as a single entity?  This
>quesiton is relevant to Bollinger's argument about the electron becoming
>lighter and lighter when it falls thru the basement to become a hydrino.  I
>hope experts in this group can give a serious answer to my question (Blue,
>Carr, Jones, are you listening?).  

	Actually,  neither particle becomes lighter.  The "negative energy"
in the system is going to be "negative" electromagnetic energy in the
space around the particles.  Of course the net energy is going to be positive,
but you will find the difference if you,  say,  compute the electric field of
a positive and negative charge at a distance of 1m and at a distance of .5 A
and then work out the energy density and integrate to find the total energy.

	If you care about the inertia of the whole system,  you have to
remember that the fields have inertia too -- since particles already have
"electromagnetic mass".

	Of course there was a little swindle here because we have serious
problems in defining electromagnetic energy;  i.e.,  the electromagnetic
energy of a point particle is infinite.  This is a problem that isn't
entirely resolved;  but it is still pretty meaningless to say that
either particle actually "loses mass",  only that the system (including
fields) does as a whole.