MadSci Network: Physics |
Acording to my calculations, a photon of green (500 nanometer) light has 4 X 10^-19J of energy, and a water molecule, when it evaporates, takes 0.7 X 10^-19 J of energy with it. This leads me to believe that a single incoming photon could cause a single water molecule to "go ballistic", i.e. go from liquid to gas phase. Alternatively, an incoming photon just generally heats up the water (notice how vague. . .) and the heat causes all the water molecules to vibrate faster, and the fastest ones leave the liquid. Is my first (quantum interaction) scenario at least partially true? (My class is studying global dimming.)
Re: At the molecular (quantum) level, how does water evaporation occur?
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