Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related FFQ: Mumbo-Jumbo Science

I have this vague recollection that all objects, both organic and inorganic, emit some sort of signal or energy. Either that, or they're all vibrating at various frequencies. Can anyone confirm this?

To elaborate, I'm trying to put together some pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo that, while it might be complete nonsense, manages to have some kind of tenuous connection with reality. I also want it to have its own internal logic so that, however far-fetched and unlikely, it makes sense within itself - if you see what I mean.

The scenario is that A Scientist (we'll call him Fred) will be attaching a transmitter to his test objects. Fred has a gizmo that homes in on the unique signal/frequency/whatever of the transmitter and does its oh-so-clever thing on the test objects. However, Fred has overlooked the fact that certain other objects (or people) might actually send out signals at the same frequency or whatever. Oops. Gizmo starts doing its oh-so-clever thing on objects he didn't intend for it to work on. Disaster ensues.

Any help greatly appreciated (but don't make it too technical!)

Yvonne

Are you thinking of black-body radiation? Everything emits electromagnetic radiation at frequencies determined by their temperature - the sun and light bulbs at visible frequencies because they're so hot, people at infra-red frequencies because they're a lot cooler.

LEDs and lasers also work in the IR region - you might be able to make it work.

Any relation to George?

Mere

Well, my brief trawl through some websites did include something about black-body radiation, so I guess I probably am, Mere. When I read the term, I wasn't sure how kosher it was, so your question is rather useful as confirmation that it does exist.

I got as far as realising that bodies emit infra-red radiation, but I was rather hoping for something to suit inanimate objects, too.

Yvonne

Inanimate objects that have temperatures above absolute zero (that is, all of them ) will emit infrared radiation as well.

However, that will have far more to do with their temperature than their chemical makeup.

Well, every molecule vibrates at a unique frequency, determined by its mass, configuration, etc. Microwaves work by emitting electromagnetic waves tuned to the unique harmonic frequency of water. The water molecules hit by such waves begin to move about wildly. Basically, it's as if you shouted "WATER!" and every water molecule in range started bouncing up and down going "HEY! THAT'S ME!!"

My glucometer works on the same basis. It sends a small voltage tuned to the frequency of glucose through a sample of my blood, and, based on the response, can tell how sugar there is in the sample.

So, if Fred were to have a tracer which sent signals around tuned to the frequency of a particular tracer molecule, forgetting that that molecule may exist elsewhere... It could work. I'm not sure how he'd manage to find the response. His equipment would have to be (a) touching the sample it was scanning, (b) extremely sensitive to tiny changes, or (c) using a high (perhaps dangerous) level of signal output.

If you're going with IR, you might want to look at this page (which turned up on a quick web search). It explains, in detail, how to find a given molecule by analyzing the exact patterns of its response to IR exposue. (You shoot a beam of IR at it, and see what gets reflected back.) Plenty of nice mumbo-jumbo phrases to choose from, too.

Basically... you shoot a beam of IR light at a molecule, and there will be peaks at certain frequencies from each of its components. Different atoms bonded in different ways and configurations, will reflect at different peak frequencies. By analyzing the full pattern you get from a given molecule, you can figure out its composition. You could therefore program a sensor to look for specific frequency response profiles, and thereby detect the presence of one or more specific molecules. At least, that's what I get out skimming that page.

Does that help?

Paul

There's also the DeBroglie wavelength of an object.... Basically, modern physics says there's not really a difference between particles (matter) and waves (energy) -- just the way they behave. Really tiny, fast things like photons generally behave as waves (light), but occasionally have particle-like interactions. Not-as-tiny, not-as-fast things, such as electrons usually act like particles but occasionally act like waves.

Nowhere near as tiny, nowhere near as fast things such as Oldsmobiles are pretty much always particle-like -- but theoretically have wave properties too. Hence, the wavelength of Superman can be calculated. The DeBroglie wavelength is Planck's constant (6.626 x 10^-34 J-s) divided by the momentum (in kg-m/s). That might be something akin to what you're looking for -- Fred's tracers contain something with a unique DeBroglie wavelength, and his device can home in on the associated frequency. Forgetting of course that with the right momentum, any object might temporarily have that frequency. And if it just happened to be the wavelength that Superman has at his usual flight speed.....

Black-body radiation , IIRC, is based on Wein's Law -- any object emits light over a certain spectrum, clustered around a wavelength which is proportional to the inverse of its surface temperature. At human body temperature, it's basically all infrared -- theoretically we should emit some visible light too, I think, but it's way too dim to see. (Though when a fanfic says that Lois was glowing after a kiss, it may be literally true, if the kiss were hot enough!) This isn't specific to objects, but to temperatures -- it's why you have to supercool infrared telescopes, so the telescope's own emissions move out of the infrared and don't cloud the view. This is also how the "measurements" of a star's surface temperature are obtained.

Ah, Dr. Smith and Dr. Godwin would be proud.... ;-)

Very many thanks for the input, guys. All very helpful, and you pretty much confirmed my vague recollections from school and TV science. Fred the scientist is now sorted.

Yvonne