- #31
- 277
- 1
DrChinese
You wrote
Thanks for this clarification of the range of HUP. And thanks to ZapperZ too. You have both convinced me of the dangers of paying too much heed to the content of wikipedia!
You wrote
And to be fair, you are splitting hairs! Photons absolutely obey the HUP. They have position and momentum operators, which do not commute. They also have spin operators that do not commute. Yes, it is true that a photon does not have exactly the same operators as electrons but that is because they are different particles.
For a photon, its energy (which implies mass) is proportional to its frequency (and inversely proportional to its wavelength). The speed is c (in a vacuum), and it moves in a direction so it has a velocity. Combine these elements and you have momentum. Problem solved!
Thanks for this clarification of the range of HUP. And thanks to ZapperZ too. You have both convinced me of the dangers of paying too much heed to the content of wikipedia!