Interesting questions. Let me give it a try. I doubt that the pressure would change very much in the case of excited atoms since this is a gas. The pressure depends more upon the number of atoms than their size. The second question probably depends upon whether or not the gas is heated up by the ionization. If kinetic energy is given to the gas atoms, they will move faster and the pressure would rise. The third question is complex. If work was done by the gas during the process before the gas neutralized, then the pressure would be less along with the temperature. I consider each atom independent to a great degree in space. The electrons would behave the same as before unless they are in different motion. If this is true the Doppler effect will show up.
Dave -----Original Message----- From: James Bowery <jabow...@gmail.com> To: vortex-l <vortex-l@eskimo.com> Sent: Sun, Aug 19, 2012 1:48 pm Subject: [Vo]:Question About Conservation of Energy In Plasma Transitions Let's say you've got a xenon atom. It likes to absorb energy and emit photons. You know, xenon lamps etc. OK, so lets ask a real simple question: When a tube filled with xenon gas has some energy pumped into it and the electrons go to higher orbitals -- yes this happens for a very short period of time before photons are emitted but let's talk about just the short period of time. The diameter of the atoms presumably increases. Does the gas pressure increase during that interval? Now lets say that the energy is sufficient to actually strip the electrons away and form an ionized gas for a short interval. Does the ionized gas pressure increase during that interval? Now lets talk about really-simple magnetic confinement (say a magnetic mirror type bottle) used in conjunction with a solid tube so that the non-conducting (because non-ionized) gas phase is confined by the solid tube and the conducting (because) ionized gas phase is confined by the magnetic bottle: When the electrons fall back into their ground states we can comfortably assert that the photons emitted will equal the energy input. However, what if the plasma has expanded during the high pressure phase, ie: done work against the magnetic confinement (like, oh, I don't know, generating an electrical power spike in a conductor associated with the magnetic field). Does that mean the "free" electrons of the plasma no longer want to return to their ground states and give up exactly the same amount of energy that they would have in the absence of having done work? If not, where did the electrons go and where do the xenon atoms get electrons to substitute for them?
