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Reality Check · 31st August 2014, 07:33 PM

Originally Posted by wogoga

Population inversion essentially means that the majority of atoms/ molecules are in an excited state....

That is not exactly what the Wikipedia article states, wogoga:

Quote:

In physics, specifically statistical mechanics, a population inversion occurs when a system (such as a group of atoms or molecules) exists in a state with more members in an excited state than in lower energy states.

That is expanded on later - the major point is that it is the same excited state that the members are in.
For thermal emission from stars it is different excited states. We do not see one spectrum line from a star as in a laser, we see many lines superimposed on a continuum.

Also: Linking to a crank web site as in

Originally Posted by wogoga

photons, as social particles

does not look good, wogoga.

Photons are in fact "social" but that is because they are bosons and obey Bose–Einstein statistics and have Bose–Einstein correlations, not because some crank thinks they have souls!

31st August 2014, 07:33 PM	#18
Reality Check Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: New Zealand Posts: 28,521	Originally Posted by wogoga Population inversion essentially means that the majority of atoms/ molecules are in an excited state.... That is not exactly what the Wikipedia article states, wogoga: Quote: In physics, specifically statistical mechanics, a population inversion occurs when a system (such as a group of atoms or molecules) exists in a state with more members in an excited state than in lower energy states. That is expanded on later - the major point is that it is the same excited state that the members are in. For thermal emission from stars it is different excited states. We do not see one spectrum line from a star as in a laser, we see many lines superimposed on a continuum. Also: Linking to a crank web site as in Originally Posted by wogoga photons, as social particles does not look good, wogoga. Photons are in fact "social" but that is because they are bosons and obey Bose–Einstein statistics and have Bose–Einstein correlations, not because some crank thinks they have souls!
	__________________ NASA Finds Direct Proof of Dark Matter (another observation) (and Abell 520) Electric comets still do not exist! Last edited by Reality Check; 31st August 2014 at 07:40 PM.