Dante Meira said:I read that electromagnetic radiation behaves both as particle and as wave, in what is called wave–particle duality. Given that the radio waves of VHF television have wavelengths from one to ten meters, what is the size of a "VHF photon"?
Dante Meira said:I read that electromagnetic radiation behaves both as particle and as wave, in what is called wave–particle duality. Given that the radio waves of VHF television have wavelengths from one to ten meters, what is the size of a "VHF photon"?
ZapperZ said:Nowhere in the description of the physics is there any description of a photon's size. There is a characteristic wavelength, and this often defines other properties of this photon, but it has never been used to signify its size.
A photon is not a classical particle. It can't be from the way it is behaving. Thus, your question is similar to asking "How salty is the number 12?"
Zz.
Dante Meira said:How should I interpret the size of the dots in the plate used in the double-slit experiment with photons?
What will determine the size of the dots in the plate? The energy level of the photon has no relation to it?
ZapperZ said:The size of the dot on the plate has a lot to do with the plate! I can show you various CCDs where light of the same wavelength will make dots of different sizes, depending on the resolution and the electronics of the plate!
A "detection" is made when light interacts with something. This something often is a solid, which means that an atom or molecule that are attached to many, many other atoms and molecules! The neighbors often "talk" to each other! (Crosstalk is a major issue in electronic circuit detectors when spatial resolution is a concern.)
Zz.
You might notice that an ordinary TV antenna is an interference experiment, where the elements create an interference pattern off one end of the antenna.Dante Meira said:Thank you for clarifying that.
I'm just really curious to know which would be the requirements for performing the double-slit experiment with VHF photons, or photon with even bigger wavelengths.
CWatters said:You can certainly detect the interference patterns produced by radio waves. Not sure how/if you could detect the individual photons.
I'm not sure if there would be any point after all... I was just curious to know if it would be possible to do. Thank your for clarifying that.f95toli said:Experiments have been done using single photons of a few GHz (typically 4-8 GHz), this corresponds to wavelenghts (on chip) of about 1 cm.
VHF would be quite tricky since you would need to cool your system down to very low temperatures to get rid of the thermal photons. It might just about be possible in a microkelvin fridge but experimentally it would be a bit of a nightmare.
Also, what would be the point?
A VHF (very high frequency) photon is a type of electromagnetic radiation with a frequency between 30 MHz and 300 MHz. It falls within the radio wave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
The size of a VHF photon is extremely small and cannot be measured in traditional units like inches or centimeters. It is typically measured in terms of its wavelength, which ranges between 1 meter and 10 meters.
The size of a photon is determined by its wavelength, so the size of a VHF photon is larger than an X-ray photon but smaller than a microwave photon. However, compared to particles like atoms, the size of a VHF photon is still incredibly small.
Yes, the size of a VHF photon can vary slightly depending on its energy and frequency. Higher energy VHF photons will have shorter wavelengths and therefore be slightly smaller in size, while lower energy VHF photons will have longer wavelengths and be slightly larger.
The size of a VHF photon is important in determining its behavior and interactions with matter. For example, VHF photons with longer wavelengths are able to penetrate through materials more easily than those with shorter wavelengths. Understanding the size of a VHF photon is also crucial in applications such as radio communication and medical imaging.