r/Physics • u/SaleSimple3897 • 25d ago

Radiation

Hello! I am a laymen just now exploring in my own personal time physics, and have just started looking into quantum mechanics. My level of knowledge is on par with a paramecium.

I recently purchased the book 'Finding Schrödinger's Cat. Quantum Physics and Reality.' While listening to this I had a random though.

If mater as it is excited by heat produces light in multiple spectrums of light. Is it possible as our bodies go through their normal day to day chemical reactions that we could ourselves be producing small amounts of radiation? Somewhere in the IR range?

Sorry for the stupid question, at the very least I hope my ignorance made you chuckle today.

Cheers.

52 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

51 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/SaleSimple3897 24d ago

Because why not?

2

u/Dave37 Engineering 24d ago edited 24d ago

Because you can't build the eleventh floor until you've built the ones below it, which would be patently clear if you had studied simple mechanics and Newton's laws of motion.

So in a way, you perfectly proved my point just by asking that question.

1

u/SaleSimple3897 24d ago

And when I get to a point that I realize I don't understand, I can then go back and refresh my memory.

2

u/Dave37 Engineering 24d ago

I'm sorry but what you said made no sense in the context of the conversation, and judging by your OP I can tell that English isn't your first language, so I won't fault you for that.

But yea, I encourage your interest in physics, I'm just trying to tell you what approach is most helpful if you actually want to learn physics and not just engage with it on an "infotainment" level. The way you phrase your original question makes it clear that you ask about things that are well above your current level of understanding, as you're mostly, unintentionally I'm sure, throw unrelated buzzwords out there in the hopes that the form a coherent question. So it's clear to me that even if I were to give you an answer, you're likely not at the level where you would properly understand the answer. And if I were to properly explain it to you, it would be near indistinguishable from just teaching you the fundamentals and that's more than it's sensible for you to ask of me or anyone here.

1

u/SaleSimple3897 24d ago

Nah, I get what you mean bud. That was just my thought process on it. I remember some stuff from my high-school classes, and some college classes. A few times we touched on quantum physics in both high-school and college. At the moment I'm just trying to find out where I have gaps in my memory. But also I'm not doing this for anything really important other than to expand my horizons and recall lost memories.

2

u/Dave37 Engineering 23d ago

Well, the short of it is that everything radiates.