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Stanley Jordan Plays the Periodical Table (Ionization Energies)

Posted in computing, mobile phones, particle physics, quantum physics

The ionization energy is the amount of energy required to remove a single electron from an atom. If the atom has more than one electron, each one requires more energy than the previous one. The result is a series of increasing energy levels, and in the quantum world these energies correspond to frequencies, as in a musical scale.

This raises an interesting question: if we could hear these frequencies how would they sound? I created an app to find out, and in this video I used my app to share what I learned. As it turns out, the results are quite musical.

Important note: This audio includes some very low frequencies, which you might not hear through typical cell phone or laptop speakers. I recommend listening with headphones or a high-quality playback system.

The app was created using the APL programming language.
This video was uploaded in 2021, and changed from unlisted to listed in July 2024.

1 Comment so far

  1. APL as in A Programming Language? The one that is symbols instead of letters? That was the first programming language that I learned in 1974 lol.

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