- #1
DavidSullivan
- 17
- 0
Noob question: if an atom in a vacuum releases a photon does it have a direction? Does it propagate in a straight line?
My answer was always "of course!" until I read Feynman's QED and now I'm confused. What I'm trying to get my head around is the idea that light "travels all possible paths probabilistically." (My words). If that's the case, shouldn't a photon propagate out from the atom in all directions as an expanding sphere?
My Google skills seem to be failing me, so if someone can point my to anything on the Web regarding this idea I'd appreciate it.
Oh, you might have guessed I am not a physicist, so anything beyond Calc III is going to be over my head.
Thanks, David
My answer was always "of course!" until I read Feynman's QED and now I'm confused. What I'm trying to get my head around is the idea that light "travels all possible paths probabilistically." (My words). If that's the case, shouldn't a photon propagate out from the atom in all directions as an expanding sphere?
My Google skills seem to be failing me, so if someone can point my to anything on the Web regarding this idea I'd appreciate it.
Oh, you might have guessed I am not a physicist, so anything beyond Calc III is going to be over my head.
Thanks, David