Talk:Atomic electron transition

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Terminology

I took out that reference because, as the original poster claimed, it was unauthoritative and directly contradicted the dictionary.

Additionally, I noted that the argument supposedly literate people vehemently use against quantum leap is that the change in the leap in quantum mechanics is a very, very, VERY small distance. Well, if we aren't talking about particle physics, but rather ideas, a fundamental change in the way that people think (or how industry works) is ALWAYS big.

A lot of sources on the internet disagree, apparently including a lot of scientists and people who study language. Well, they are wrong. A good argument trumps a bad one, and I think I stated it pretty clearly.

--alan d

I made some changes to the Vernacular, or Popular usage section. I disagree with this small change business. I guess if you are talking about physical distances you have a point, but everything is relative (and position of course is fairly irrelevant in QM anyway). The Lyman-alpha line in Hydrogen is an energy shift of about 75% of the ionization energy of the electron, which to me is pretty big. Imagine if you could be abruptly kicked to 75% of the way to escaping Earth's atmosphere...pretty big to you, small to someone the size of the universe. Vessels42 14:17, 12 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I removed the paragraph you didn't like. I've made some changes in the other paragraph. The term "quantum leap" isn't used in quantum mechanics. If it were, it would probably refer to jumps between energy levels, rather than jumps between particles.

My understanding is that a "quantum leap" is when an electron jumps physically from one quantum state (electron cloud?) to another, resulting in an abrupt change in the energy level. This (as I understand it) implies that moving electrons from one quantum state to the other is simultaneously a jump in level as well as a physical move.

And yes, it is a term in quantum mechanics, although I suspect its not particularly useful to describe anything other than its exact definition.

--alan d

I don't know enough to answer this: is it possible for an electron to jump two energy levels? It seems to me that it would be possible, as in emission spectra. Would that also be characterised as a quantum leap? If so, then a quantum leap isn't the smallest possible leap; it is merely a jump from one state to another, without passing through intermediate states? AndyP 14:48, 29 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You have a point there. Yes, it is certainly possible for the electron to jump more than one energy level (without passing through the intermediate levels). Quantum leaps are still "small" changes in any conventional sense of the term, though of course this is relative.--Srleffler 23:52, 29 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Vernacular usage

Why does someone (or several people) keep deleting the section on the vernacular usage of this term? It has been deleted several times by anonymous editors. The section seems good to me. This is an actual usage of the term, and it is useful having a section that compares and contrasts the vernacular usage with the physics usage.--Srleffler 12:57, 21 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

TV series

Also a popular television series from the early 1990's, in which the main character "quantum shifts" between time periods in his own lifetime with the aim of solving people's problems, usually involving their deaths, within a limited period with the aid of a time travelling holographic assistant and the computer known as Ziggie. Currently being repeated on a freeview channel.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.42.254.137 (talk)

The TV series has its own article, at Quantum Leap. Information on the show belongs there, not here.--Srleffler 01:24, 8 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

WP:RM purpose

If anyone is interested, i have put a series of questions on the talk page of the Quantum Leap redirect page relating tothe TV series move. Simply south 17:24, 11 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Electron only?

According to the article (my emphasis)

In physics, a quantum leap or quantum jump is a change of an electron from one energy state to another within an atom.

Is it certain (no puns please) that it has to be an electron? Fluxons, spinons and other phenomena can also exhibit a discontinuous quantum transition, a leap. --20:12, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Many standard quantum mechanics textbooks, such as Merzbacher, and Landau and Lifshitz, use the term "electron" for brevity and concreteness when referring to some quantum mechanical object, although they mention this explicitly in a footnote within the first few pages.131.111.213.41 14:38, 4 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, technically any particle or system that is 'bound'; nucleons, phonons, positronium, etc. will have quantized energy levels, and the transitions between these levels could be described as 'quantum leaps'. --Chetvorno^TALK 17:02, 1 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]