2007-02-22 01:25:11 · 3 answers · asked by goring 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Good question. I think you've fallen into a common misconception about the "wave-particle duality" of light.
In the theory of Quantum Mechanics, we treat light as a particle, called the Photon. The Photon's motion is governed by a wave equation, which gives the probability that we'll find it at a certain place at a certain time. Now, if we take a large number of photons and study their statistics, then they'll tell us about the wave function.
So you see, a photon itself is not a wave. It's just that we can treat light as a wave if there are enough photons. For this reason, it doesn't make sense to talk about the amplitude of a photon.
2007-02-22 21:09:14 · answer #1 · answered by Matthew S 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"Amplitude" of a photon is just its energy.
E = h * f
h = 6.63*10^-34 Joule second
Example:
For f = 6*10^14 Hz (about the color yellow-green)
Then
E = 3.98x10^-10 Joules per photon
2007-02-22 09:57:56 · answer #2 · answered by morningfoxnorth 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
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2007-02-22 09:41:07 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋