How can you explain the following paradox: an iron bar heated to 800 C glows brightly, but a piece a quartz heated to the same temperature will hardly glow at all?

Socrates

When a substance is heated, the outer electrons (i.e., those farthest from the nucleus) can use the heat energy to jump to higher energy levels. When the electrons jump back down to lower energy levels, they get rid of extra energy by radiating electromagnetic waves. If the waves are in visible portions of the spectrum, we observe them as glow. Now, in metals the outer electrons are rather loosely atached to the nucleus and it doesn't take much energy to make them jump to higher energy levels. They also easily jump back to lower levels. On the other hand, in quartz the outer electrons are tightly bound to the nuclei, and even a higher temperature of 800 C is not enough to produce mass jumps to higher energy levels. Dec 17 02, 2:14 AM

Nude Dude

Thank you Socrates - you are a gentleman and a scholar. Dec 17 02, 2:15 AM