2007-05-20 17:40:37 · 7 answers · asked by cumuliform 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Nice question. Without getting too pedantic, what you are asking is, "What is the size of an idea?" For which I don't really have the answer. What we (physicists) are trying to express is that light exchanges energy in a discrete bundle, so we can picture that as a little "packet" that we call a "photon". This interaction may be said to occur at a mathematical point (which would indicate no size). In this sense we can identify with the idea that the photon is a particle, e.g. tiny thing. This is itself a paradox, as a photon is massless--it doesn't have the thing that makes a particle a particle and not a not-a-particle in the first place. Likewise, if you think of light (even a single photon) propagating as a wave, then it begins to take up all space as it travels. The problem is that our conceptualizations of "things" either wave or particle is insufficent to describe phenomena. Check out wave-particle duality.
2007-05-20 18:01:25 · answer #1 · answered by supastremph 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
A photon seems to be a SOLITON and to have the shape of an ellipsoid (an egg) of length lambda and circular cross-section lambda/pi. This soliton model of the photon is supported by experimental evidence
2007-05-22 04:11:33 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
According to quantum mechanics, a photon has 0 mass. But it has a wavelength, which is given by this formula:
Energy = (Planck's constant * the speed of light) / wavelength
2007-05-20 17:50:17 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It has no size
2007-05-20 17:44:20 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
E=h f
.
energy particle.
.
2007-05-20 19:10:26 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The same as an electron.
2007-05-20 17:48:13 · answer #6 · answered by michgzlr 2 · 0⤊ 3⤋
it has no dimension, so it has no size
2007-05-20 17:57:06 · answer #7 · answered by twelve12 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋