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  • $\begingroup$ Is it fair to say that Quantum Mech primarily models the interaction between light and matter, and not the behavior of light or EM fields alone? $\endgroup$
    – RC_23
    Commented Mar 1, 2023 at 23:18
  • $\begingroup$ Me asking why electrons don't lose their energies to atoms residing in the anode was a follow up to the original question, that is I meant to say why there is a braking radiation at all if electrons can lose their energies to residing atoms? So instead of getting continuous spectrum embedded in it some characteristic ones, why not they aren't all characteristics? $\endgroup$
    – Jack
    Commented Mar 2, 2023 at 0:25
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    $\begingroup$ @Jack Why do your tires squeal if you press the brake pedal too hard? Most of the kinetic energy of your car heats the brakes and tires, but some goes into sound. In an x-ray tube, all the processes of energy loss are happening at the same time, so you get heat, bremsstrahlung, and characteristic x-rays. $\endgroup$
    – John Doty
    Commented Mar 2, 2023 at 0:33
  • $\begingroup$ @RC_23 For electromagnetic wave propagation and other reversible processes below ~100 EHz, Maxwell and QED models agree, so we don't need to consider quantum phenomena. But, when the electromagnetic field interacts irreversibly with something and we look at the interaction on a small enough scale, we observe wave function collapse, photons, etc. $\endgroup$
    – John Doty
    Commented Mar 2, 2023 at 14:42
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @Jack Bremsstrahlung comes from the close encounters of electrons with atomic nuclei. Accelerated charge produces radiation, and the nucleus can cause a large change in the electron's trajectory over a picometer distance. On the other hand, the acceleration in an x-ray tube occurs over a centimeter or so, relatively gentle. That produces very little radiation. $\endgroup$
    – John Doty
    Commented Mar 3, 2023 at 13:42