Greetings Gerrit,

HT>> When I worked in solid state physics (as a grad student) we
 HT>> routinely used the cm^-1, but I don't recall ever having
 HT>> seen it referred to as a unit of energy.

 GK> Well, as I said before, it's typical for optical
 GK> spectroscopy. I guess solid state physics is as far away from
 GK> this as anything in physics an be. ;)

We were doing infrared spectroscopy.  We distinguished between radiation at
different parts of the spectrum using wavenumbers, measured in inverse
centimeters.  We were studying the behavior of silicon and so we also
looked at band gap energies.  These we measured in electron-volts, IIRC.

 GK> Sounds like you're working as a teacher.

Yup.  Teach freshman and sophomore level introductory physics at College of
the Mainland (www.com.edu).  It's a community college.  An institution
found only in SOME English-speaking countries!

 GK> I always had difficulties to understand what a /textbook/ in
 GK> English speaking countries really is. There is a faint memory
 GK> that it had something to do with the "audience". Textbooks
 GK> are for undergraduate students, or something like that?

What's a textbook in non-English speaking countries?!

 HT>> As I said, though, usage differs in specialized areas.

 GK> Which is certainly true. This was the reason why I suggested
 GK> in the first place that measuring potential energies in V may
 GK> be alright in some areas.

Well, the authors of PNU tend to stay away from specialized usage in their
discussions.  My guess is that it's a misprint, and they intended to write
eV, not V.

Herman

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