Photon energy

It is peculiar for a person to try to explain laws, according to which the surrounding world lives. At the dawn of Consciousness, all the observed natural phenomena were attributed to a whole host of different gods: rain, thunder, lightning, wind - they all owe their origin to the deities. Then mysticism gave way to science. Although it was still in its infancy, nevertheless, it allowed the inquisitive minds to explain some of the natural phenomena without resorting to the gods. Of particular interest was visible light. In attempts to explain it at least somehow, it was suggested that it is a continuous stream of some tiny corpuscular particles. This model was followed and actively defended by I. Newton. And if there is a particle, then it must somehow be characterized.

Everyone knows that if you put your hand under the sun's rays, then it feels warm. It is known that this is possible due to radiation. But how exactly does radiation transfer heat? So the energy of the photon was discovered - first by an indirect method. And the particle itself was called the quantum of light. The energy of a photon is widely used in modern technology: for example, it starts the mechanism of automatic opening of doors in large outlets.

Possibility of the impossible

So, a photon is a particle of light, a quantum of energy. However, further studies have raised doubts about the accuracy of the corpuscular model. Huygens first pointed to some unusual properties, and then Jung, with his experience with several slits, discovered the phenomenon of interference and on his basis brilliantly proved ... the wave nature of light. It would seem - you can put a point, but everything was much more complicated. It's hard to believe, but the photon exhibits properties of both particles and waves, and simultaneously. The result of any experiment depends on the expectations of the researcher himself. Thought and intention somehow transform the particle into a wave and back. The energy of the photon remains unchanged and can be calculated within the framework of classical electromagnetic theory.

The term "speed of light" is directly related to photons. Actually, 300 thousand km / s - this is the speed with which these particles do not have mass. Their existence is inseparable from the motion: already at its origin, photons move, forming a ray.

Photon energy

Energy, velocity, and mass are related to each other by the famous Einstein formula E = mc2. Adding it to Planck's constant, we get:

E = h * v,

Where v is the wavelength of the light radiation (photon frequency); H is the Planck constant.

Having assembled both equations, you can calculate the mass:

M = (h * v) / c2

We repeat that since this particle exists only in motion, the value obtained is applicable for this state.

Obviously, as the wavelength increases (the frequency increases), energy becomes greater. However, the human eye is capable of capturing photons with relatively small intrinsic energies. This is explained by the value of the Planck constant, which is represented by a number of -34 degrees, which gives an extremely low energy. For example, the most intense color is green. But even his energy is 4 * 10 to the power of -19 Joules.

Afterword

The transition from classical mechanics to modern quantum mechanics, in which practically all processes of the microworld can be explained within the framework of the corresponding models, continued until the 1900s. One part of the physicists adhered to the corpuscular theory expressed by Einstein, and the other part - to the wave model of light proposed by Maxwell. Finally, the modern idea of a photon was established after the experiment with its electron scattering (since the latter is outside the atom, then the concept of energy shells is not applicable to it).