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Timvanhoomissen
I'm having trouble understanding how simple particles can be received and then with that information translated into a song on the radio or a program on television. Any help?
Timvanhoomissen said:I'm having trouble understanding how simple particles can be received and then with that information translated into a song on the radio or a program on television. Any help?
Exactly ... as photons DONT carry messagesDale said:Why would you try to use quantum mechanics to analyze something that is perfectly well described with classical mechanics?
All information can be reduced to a stream of digital bits -1s and 0s -. And any physical thing that can be streamed between two points can be modulated to make a bit stream, provided there are enough of them. You could transmit pictures using a stream of ping pong balls. But it is simpler and much faster to use photons.Timvanhoomissen said:I'm having trouble understanding how simple particles can be received and then with that information translated into a song on the radio or a program on television. Any help?
Andrew Mason said:All information can be reduced to a stream of digital bits -1s and 0s -. And any physical thing that can be streamed between two points can be modulated to make a bit stream, provided there are enough of them. You could transmit pictures using a stream of ping pong balls. But it is simpler and much faster to use photons.
AM
It seems to me that you want too much, too quickly. Your post includes virtually the whole of communications theory and practice.Timvanhoomissen said:I'm having trouble understanding how simple particles can be received and then with that information translated into a song on the radio or a program on television. Any help?
Photons can have different energies corresponding to different frequencies. You can vary the energy/frequency to encode the signal.Timvanhoomissen said:I'm having trouble understanding how simple particles can be received and then with that information translated into a song on the radio or a program on television. Any help?
Maybe, but it seems to me that the original poster's difficulty is not with photons per se but with how complex information can be effectively carried by them. An individual photon cannot carry much information but a stream of them certainly can.davenn said:I think you missed the point of his mis-understanding ... reread Dale and my posts
It's another demonstration of how people feel pressured to use 'photons' in any explanation of anything. It's as if it makes things more approachable but it's actually quite the opposite.Andrew Mason said:the original poster's difficulty is not with photons per se
Photons are particles of light that are able to carry information or messages through electromagnetic waves. They can travel at the speed of light and can carry a variety of information such as colors, images, and data.
The process of using photons to carry messages involves encoding the information onto the electromagnetic waves. This can be done through various methods such as amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, or phase modulation. The photons then travel through the medium, such as fiber optics, to reach their destination.
Photons are able to travel long distances without losing information because they are not affected by external factors such as gravity or magnetic fields. They also have very little interaction with other particles, allowing them to maintain their energy and information over long distances.
Yes, photons can carry messages in any medium that can transmit electromagnetic waves. This includes air, water, and even vacuum. However, certain materials, such as fiber optics, are more efficient in transmitting photons and are commonly used for communication purposes.
To receive and decode messages carried by photons, we use devices such as antennas, photodiodes, and lasers. These devices are able to detect the electromagnetic waves and convert them into electrical signals, which can then be decoded by computers or other communication devices.