On Jun 1, 6:44*am, Cecil Moore wrote:
Art Unwin wrote:
Does that mean that a radiator reduces mass with use
because the electrons orbiting around the atom are losing mass?

Since mass and energy are equivalent, I suppose the mass
of the radiator increases with increasing power input.
The increase in mass can be calculated but the average
ham has no way of measuring the increase. No need to
worry about the tower falling down due to additional
mass from energized electrons. :-)

The antenna is charged up to a certain energy level
during the key-down transient state. Since the energy
content of the antenna cannot increase forever, it must lose
energy as photonic radiation and/or as heat during steady-state.

Free electrons in a conductor travel at much less than the
speed of light. Photons are emitted from the electrons at
the speed of light. A quote from:

http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?SpeedOfElectrons

"For example, for a copper wire of radius 1 mm carrying
a steady current of 10 Amps, the drift velocity is only
about 0.024 cm/sec!" i.e. about 0.01 inch/second. Ignoring
random movements, the electrons at our RF transmitter never
reach the antenna. At 10 MHz, the electrons move less than
0.000000001 inch during a 100 nS cycle involving a 100 watt
transmitter, i.e. they mostly oscillate in place.

However, other electrons, traveling at a large percentage
of the speed of light, are quite massive as observed in
particle accelerators and radioactive decay.
--
73, Cecil, IEEE, OOTC, *http://www.w5dxp.com

Cecil
The above is confusing unbound particles with bound particles both of
which can be considered a particle but only one has motion ie both
kinetic and potential energies where as the static partical only has
potential energy where the potential energy of both is equal.
The bound particle is in circular motion around a point source ala the
atom,
this collection of particles are in a state of three dimensional
equilibrium in relation to other similar clusters of particles which
provides a mass that in total is in static equilibrium
within its own boundary. If you supply energy to this mass in
equilibrium the frequency of rotation of particles increases and could
increase to the point of the frequency of light where, if it
continues, could become vaporised such that we now have a new medium
consisting of partial pressures of gasses.
The other particle when in equilibrium is at rest i.e unbound as has
lost a lot of potential energy in its voyage from the Sun ala the sun
spots. Energy is and can be added via electric energy where a
displacement current is formed such that the resting particle receives
the same amount of energy that it lost in its travels thru the
universe. The only difference between the two particles is the
boundaries in which they are seen to be enclosed in equilibrium ie
same potential energy but in different scalar form. ( two dimensional
compared to three dimensional equilibrium). I can only assume that
what you refer as a photon is the separation of latent energy with
respect to potential energy ie a separation of the energies associated
with the particle with spin
Regards
Art