Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: myuncle on 27/12/2021 13:25:27
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Curious about it, we can't "see" travelling photons in action when they travel in a straight line, or when they carry electric and magnetic fields that oscillate at a certain frequency, the so called wavelength (how can they travel straight and oscillate at the same time by the way? Are they particles or not?). I have also read that two photons sometimes could combine to produce an electron. So is it possible that electrons are just well packed photons? What do you think? Difficult stuff, speak your mind as freely as you can.
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Are they particles or not?
The answer is no to both! A photon is a photon: a quantum of electromagnetic energy. We need two distinct mathematical models to describe its interactions with matter, but a model is not reality.
I have also read that two photons sometimes could combine to produce an electron.
Not quite. It is true that the equivalence of mass and energy permits the conversion of photons into massive particles, but charge is conserved so you need enough energy to produce two particles, an electron and a positron, as the net charge of photons is zero.
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we can't "see" travelling photons in action when they travel in a straight line
That is true - but if you have a stream of photons (eg from a laser pointer), and put a piece of white card in the way, some of the reflected photons will strike your eyeball, and you will see them (no "quotes" required).
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Hi everyone;
No, it's not true, photons have no electrical charge, so you can not make electrons from photons.
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But some of us do it for a living!
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No, it's not true, photons have no electrical charge, so you can not make electrons from photons.
It has been shown experimentally that a photon can become a positron and an electron so you are not correct.
Edited to add: Just to be clear I certainly do not think electrons are made of photons!
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It's strange isn't it?
https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/164191/what-are-the-electromagnetic-fields-of-a-photon#327657
I never liked lights propagation myself. And if you pass quantum mechanics into the macroscopic regime it actually question all types of motion. It becomes a very philosophical question, how to determine 'reality'. The simplest one is to define it from yourself.
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