The discussion revolves around whether light reaches every part of space, exploring concepts related to the emission of photons, their propagation, and the nature of light as both particles and waves. Participants examine the implications of light intensity, distance from sources, and the probabilistic nature of photon detection.
Participants express differing views on whether there are gaps in the propagation of light and the implications of photon detection probabilities. The discussion remains unresolved, with multiple competing perspectives on the nature of light and its reach in space.
Some participants reference previous discussions on similar topics, indicating that the concepts of photon density and gaps in light may require further exploration and clarification. The discussion also highlights the complexity of understanding light's behavior in terms of both classical and quantum mechanics.
Ok sorry, maybe i wasn' t so clear...HallsofIvy said:I really have no idea what you mean by "angles between waves" or why you think that means "photons don't reach every single part of space"?
I know that but an object which is light-years far from the one emitting the photons, may doesn't receive any of them!HallsofIvy said:A light wave from a point source travels in a circle (actually, in 3 dimensions, a sphere) centered on the point. of radii of such a circle (or sphere).
Interesting answare! But i still don't understand how a finite number of waves spreading out from a round object can reach every single part of space...rootone said:Photons can be understood as particles, but also they can be understood as waves, (in an electromagnetic field).
If you throw a rock into a pond it produces waves.
The waves spread out until they are too small to be seen, but they spread in a continuous, and even way, no gaps where the wave is absent.
Thanks for answering. You know, I love physics because is all logic and I think it is all related to logic and intuitive stuff... Anyway, do you have any official source where I can read what you said? Like a book or something else...Khashishi said:It's not intuitive how light works. At your level, you will simply have to accept that light travels as a wave which is infinitely divisible, but the wave only have a certain probability of interacting with a target, and only in clumps of energy and momentum, which we refer to as photons. If you are looking for an intuitive description, you won't find one.
so you might say there are "gaps" between the rays from such objects. But those objects are on the other side of the visible universe from us. There is nowhere in the universe far enough away from galaxies that it isn't awash with light.[/QUOTE said:But that means that: Yes! There are Gaps! I read the other article and I realized how dense they are, but it doesn't mean there are no gaps...
Thanks for answering, but I don't really understand what you mean... You said that there are no gaps in the wavefunction, but we know that each photon travels in a wave and you said that they fallow "random" directions, but that means that between a wave and another there is a gap!Khashishi said:There aren't gaps in the wavefunction. There are just gaps in where the photons actually happen to be measured. Do you know what a wavefunction is? In other words, the photon has a probability of being emitted in any direction, with no gaps, but the actual photon is emitted in one direction randomly, so yeah there are gaps, but it has nothing to do with gaps in angles.
Try, please. I don't think there is any kind of physics not-understandable by human logic...Khashishi said:Yeah, you kinda need to study quantum mechanics for a while. It's not easy to explain.
Ok I think I got what you said. That means that all the waves we use (like radio waves for example) travel in all directions just like mechanical waves in water?rootone said:As we get further from the light source, the probabiltiy of actually detecting a photon becomes less.
However that probability exists to the same degree at every point in space that is the same distance from the source.
There are no point in space where the probability is zero, hence the wave is everywhere, regardless of where a photon was actually seen,
Over time and averaged out, every point of space at the same distance from source will 'see' photons at a rate consistent with the probability of seeing photons at that distance.
wow... just like the gravity force. I there any k?Khashishi said:It goes essentially as 1/r^2.
If they overlap, would you still say there are gaps?marcgrissz said:But that means that: Yes! There are Gaps! I read the other article and I realized how dense they are, but it doesn't mean there are no gaps...
No K: this is just a basic function of the geometry in your first picture. The difference in surface area of two circles with different radii.marcgrissz said:wow... just like the gravity force. I there any k?