Found this intriguing comment about apparent overunity due to spin. I
never heard of this guy Richard A. Beth and wondered if anyone hear has
any insights on it;
Photon spin paradox
by Neil Bates - neil_delver@hotmail.com
Newport News, VA
I invite investigation of the following physics paradox: All photons, of
any energy, have the same amount of spin (intrinsic angular momentum)
equal to [hbar].
If a motionless disk which is free to rotate absorbs some photons
head-on, angular momentum n[hbar] is transferred to the disk. The disk
must therefore begin rotating, at a rate [omega] = n[hbar]/I which is
the same regardless of the energy of the photons.
(An experiment by Richard A. Beth, reported in 1936, showed that this
transferred angular momentum is literal torque and not just the transfer
of field currents, etc.)
However, there is a given kinetic energy T = I[omega]^2 /2 =
n^2[hbar]^2/2I associated with that rate of rotation of the disk.
If the combined energy of the photons is less than that kinetic energy,
we have unexplained extra energy - a violation of the law of
conservation of energy.
(A pre-rotating disk amplifies the problem.)
Any ideas on how to solve this conflict between angular momentum and
energy, so easy to pose and yet so perplexing?
Could it involve new principles of physics? Please give specifics and
don't just gripe about what is not supposed to result, etc. Even if
nature somehow balances the books through some more subtle
considerations, it is still significant and interesting for there to be
a contradiction at the basic theoretical level.
-- Jerry Wayne Decker - jdecker@keelynet.com http://www.keelynet.com from an Art to a Science Voice : (214)324-8741 - FAX : (214)324-3501 KeelyNet - PO BOX 870716 Mesquite - Republic of Texas - 75187------------------------------------------------------------- To leave this list, email <listserver@keelynet.com> with the body text: leave Interact list archives and on line subscription forms are at http://keelynet.com/interact/ -------------------------------------------------------------