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idea2000
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So, I've been reading a whole bunch of different answers to this online. Some people say yes, some people say no. I'm totally confused...
That didn’t address my specific question to you.idea2000 said:Well, supposedly there is a paradox here, where the free fall frame doesn't see the electron radiate, but the lab frame does. However, I just looked on wikipedia, and supposedly the paradox is resolved by using the equivalence principle.
It depends on how "radiation" is defined. In principle, it is straightforward (but not necessarily easy) to calculate the EM field around the charge falling in a gravitational field. The debate is about should such EM field be called "radiation".idea2000 said:So, I've been reading a whole bunch of different answers to this online. Some people say yes, some people say no. I'm totally confused...
bobob said:Not to an observer falling with the charge. Here is a link to an article that addresses that question in depth: "Radiation from a Uniformly Accelerated Charge and the Equivalence Principle," Parrott, S.,
https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9303025
We argue that purely local experiments can distinguish a stationary charged particle in a static gravitational field from an accelerated particle in (gravity-free) Minkowski space. Some common arguments to the contrary are analyzed and found to rest on a misidentification of “energy”.
Does Einstein’s Equivalence Principle hold for charged particles? We cannot definitively answer this because a mathematically precise statement of the “equivalence principle” seems elusive — most statements in the literature are not sufficiently definite to be susceptible of proof or disproof. However, we do conclude that most usual formulations seem not to hold in any direct and obvious way for charged particles.
idea2000 said:So, I've been reading a whole bunch of different answers to this online. Some people say yes, some people say no. I'm totally confused...
"Free fall" refers to the state in which an object, in this case electrons, is falling under the sole influence of gravity. This means that there are no other forces acting upon the electrons, such as air resistance or external forces.
No, electrons do not always radiate when in free fall. The emission of radiation, known as bremsstrahlung, only occurs when the electrons are accelerated or decelerated. In free fall, the electrons are in a constant state of motion and do not experience acceleration or deceleration, thus they do not radiate.
The radiation emitted by electrons in free fall can be measured using various types of detectors, such as Geiger counters or scintillation detectors. These devices are able to detect and measure the energy and frequency of the emitted radiation.
The radiation emitted by electrons in free fall is typically very low energy and is not harmful to humans. However, in certain situations, such as in the presence of high energy particles or in an enclosed space, the radiation emitted by electrons in free fall can become a potential health hazard.
The mass of the electron does not have a significant impact on its radiation in free fall. The emission of radiation is primarily dependent on the electron's acceleration, which is constant in free fall regardless of its mass. However, a more massive electron may emit slightly higher energy radiation compared to a lighter electron due to its increased inertia.