The presumed identity of the photon is like that of Jekyll and Hyde. It is acknowledged that a fundamental identity change takes place, but the extent of anatomical change remains unknown. Similarly, in the case of the photon, there is a consensus that a change of identity from a wave to a particle takes place, but details of what makes a particle different from a wave are unknown. The answer of course lies in the nature of light. If the nature of light is determined, then the behaviour of light will be come demanded and photons loses their apparent paradoxical existence. The questions to be answered then, what are photons and what gives them frequency? Let us for now accept the photon as a wave, which when it collapses and takes on the persona of a particle, its energy transfers to the structure of the observer. Work is therefore done on the observer and the energy of the photon as a particle should be used up. The photon should therefore vanish, because it is essentially the energy that is used up, but it does not! In fact, a photon is believed to be capable of doing work despite it having no mass. The accepted interpretation of how a photon does work and maintain its enigmatic existence is that a photon has no mass and as such its energy [E] is given by Plank’s formula: E = [h. ν] Where [h] is Planck’s constant and [ν] is the photon frequency. However, this does not explain why a photon can deliver energy and do work, which involves the transfer of momentum in the absence of mass and yet retain its energy!
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 16:38:54 +0000
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