Thermophones by quantum mechanics

Thermophones are thought to produce sound from vibrations by converting current at audio frequencies to rapid temperature changes. However, thermophones recently fabricated from nanoscale sheets of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) produce higher sound pressure levels (SPL) without vibration. Classical heat transfer cannot explain CNT thermophones, and instead quantum mechanics (QM) as embodied in the theory of QED induced EM radiation is proposed. QED stands for quantum electrodynamics and EM for electromagnetic. Atoms in CNT films having thickness <; 0.2 microns are under EM confinement at levels beyond the ultraviolet (UV) that by QM have vanishing specific heat, and therefore Joule heat cannot be conserved by an increase in temperature. Conservation proceeds by the QED induced up-conversion of low frequency Joule heat to the UV confinement frequency of the film. Sound is produced from the pressure changes that accompany the absorption of UV emission by the surrounding air.