Quantizing Photons: Understanding the Nature of Light and Energy

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chaste
  • Start date Start date
Chaste
Messages
63
Reaction score
0
May I know why is there a need to quantize photon? can't scientist single them out?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Chaste said:
May I know why is there a need to quantize photon? can't scientist single them out?

This is a very strange question.

You seem to forget history. We don't have the "need" to do anything. We only had to do something based on what Mother Nature tells us. Einstein just simply didn't wake up one day and said "I think, today, I'll just quantize photons for the hell of it".

I could easily ask you why do we need to describe light as a wave? Why do we need to quantize the electronic charge? Why do we need to have mass on fundamental particles, etc.. etc...

Zz.
 
Pardon me please, I'm just recently exposed to this module and have absolutely no background knowledge of physics at all. I'm really confused about these new terms(or scientific jargons).

So Einstein didn't need, then preferably I can rephrase my question to : Why did he say photon come in packets or quantized them?
 
Chaste said:
Pardon me please, I'm just recently exposed to this module and have absolutely no background knowledge of physics at all. I'm really confused about these new terms(or scientific jargons).

So Einstein didn't need, then preferably I can rephrase my question to : Why did he say photon come in packets or quantized them?

Because by doing that, which was inspired by Planck's Blackbody explanation, he could explain the photoelectric effect that could not be explained at that time via Maxwell Equations.

Zz.
 
http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/quantumzone/photoelectric2.html
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I am not sure if this falls under classical physics or quantum physics or somewhere else (so feel free to put it in the right section), but is there any micro state of the universe one can think of which if evolved under the current laws of nature, inevitably results in outcomes such as a table levitating? That example is just a random one I decided to choose but I'm really asking about any event that would seem like a "miracle" to the ordinary person (i.e. any event that doesn't seem to...
Back
Top