I How do photons transfer energy?

Click For Summary
Photons transfer energy primarily through their interaction with matter rather than through photon-photon interactions, which are rare. When photons travel through space, they do not need to interact with each other to convey energy; they directly impact objects, such as the Earth, upon reaching them. The analogy of sound wave propagation through induction does not accurately apply to electromagnetic waves, as the mechanisms of energy transfer differ significantly. Understanding these concepts requires a solid grasp of quantum electrodynamics and the nature of electromagnetic radiation. Clarifying these foundational ideas is essential before drawing parallels between sound and light energy transfer.
Andreea007
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
TL;DR
Hi, so my question is how do photons transfer energy from one another if they do not interact?
Hi! So I know about the electron-photon interaction but what about photon-photon interaction? I mean, I do know there is a very small chance for them to interact, but how else do they transfer energy in order to get from Sun to Earth, for example?
When it comes to sound waves I get it, for example, when we beat the drums, the skin of the drum oscillates, causing surrounding air particles to oscillates, and so on and so on, until it receives the eardrum, through induction (mathematical process). But I'm thinking that maybe the same induction process is going on in the electromagnetic wave. I found a definition that says that the energy transfer happens through induction (first affect surrounding particles, then those particles affect surrounding particles, and so on), but how exactly do photons do that? Please, note that I'm a newbie and I'm not very familiar with physics concepts. Thank you in advance!
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Andreea007 said:
Summary:: Hi, so my question is how do photons transfer energy from one another if they do not interact?

Hi! So I know about the electron-photon interaction but what about photon-photon interaction? I mean, I do know there is a very small chance for them to interact, but how else do they transfer energy in order to get from Sun to Earth, for example?
When it comes to sound waves I get it, for example, when we beat the drums, the skin of the drum oscillates, causing surrounding air particles to oscillates, and so on and so on, until it receives the eardrum, through induction (mathematical process). But I'm thinking that maybe the same induction process is going on in the electromagnetic wave. I found a definition that says that the energy transfer happens through induction (first affect surrounding particles, then those particles affect surrounding particles, and so on), but how exactly do photons do that? Please, note that I'm a newbie and I'm not very familiar with physics concepts. Thank you in advance!
This is why we require a reference before discussing something like this. It's not clear what you've read, what you've understood about quantum electrodynamics and what you don't understand.

In any case, it's not clear precisely what question you are asking.
 
Andreea007 said:
how else do they transfer energy in order to get from Sun to Earth, for example?
Why do you think any energy has to be "transferred" by a photon traveling in free space? Of course the photons from the Sun transfer energy to the Earth when they reach the Earth, but they don't do that by interacting with other photons.
 
Andreea007 said:
when we beat the drums, the skin of the drum oscillates, causing surrounding air particles to oscillates, and so on and so on, until it receives the eardrum, through induction (mathematical process).
I have no idea what you mean by "induction" here. Your eardrum oscillates the same way the air carrying the sound waves does.

Andreea007 said:
I'm thinking that maybe the same induction process is going on in the electromagnetic wave.
Before even trying to speculate about such an analogy (and such speculations are really off topic here at PF anyway), you need to first correctly understand how the process on which you are basing the analogy works. From the above, I'm not sure you do. (Note that discussion of how we hear sound really belongs in the Biology forum, not this one, and discussion about how sound waves in air propagate really belongs in the Classical Physics forum, not this one.)
 
We often see discussions about what QM and QFT mean, but hardly anything on just how fundamental they are to much of physics. To rectify that, see the following; https://www.cambridge.org/engage/api-gateway/coe/assets/orp/resource/item/66a6a6005101a2ffa86cdd48/original/a-derivation-of-maxwell-s-equations-from-first-principles.pdf 'Somewhat magically, if one then applies local gauge invariance to the Dirac Lagrangian, a field appears, and from this field it is possible to derive Maxwell’s...