Nice to see someone else got around to discovering this effect. I observed this
phenomenon 15 or 20 years ago, using a 532 nm laser. As these dorks will
finally get around to discovering, this effect varies greatly with the
refractive index of the material and the degree of polarity. Nitromethane has a
very strong response at longer wavelengths. As far as the greatest effect
happening at 45 degrees, it's probably really 53 degrees, Brewster's angle for
water. As you move the laser across the surface the liquid, you can see a
deflection of the reflection following the spot of contact. Easy to do, anyone
can do it.
I finally gave up long ago, trying to convince credentialed physicists of some
of my strange discoveries. Submitting papers to science publications is useless
for me, as I discovered decades ago, no credentials. I once had a physicist at
UCLA who would agree to put his name on one of my discoveries so it could be
published, but he had the bad taste to die on me.
I can't be the only one to have discovered this phenomenon long ago, but it's
one of those things you sort of think, "So what?"
On Saturday, April 27th, 2024 at 2:35 PM, H L V wrote:
> How light can vaporize water without the need for heat
>
>
> Researchers discovered that light can cause evaporation of water from a
> surface without the need for heat. This 'photomolecular effect' could be
> important for understanding climate change and for improving some industrial
> processes.
>
> https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/04/240424160652.htm
>
> quote:
> "The effect is strongest when light hits the water surface at an angle of 45
> degrees. It is also strongest with a certain type of polarization, called
> transverse magnetic polarization. And it peaks in green light -- which,
> oddly, is the color for which water is most transparent and thus interacts
> the least.
> Chen and his co-researchers have proposed a physical mechanism that can
> explain the angle and polarization dependence of the effect, showing that the
> photons of light can impart a net force on water molecules at the water
> surface that is sufficient to knock them loose from the body of water. But
> they cannot yet account for the color dependence, which they say will require
> further study."
>
> Harry
