Where Do Photons Come From and How Do They Embrace Wave-Particle Duality?

[Hooloovoo]

When a photon is emitted, where did it come from? Did something cause it to be created and then emitted, or was it inside something and then released? How's it work?

 

[ZapperZ]

When a photon is emitted, where did it come from? Did something cause it to be created and then emitted, or was it inside something and then released? How's it work?

You could ask the same question this way: when kinetic energy appear when you let go of a ball, where did it come from?

A photon is simply a clump of energy (with spin of 1). So it appears, naively, out of conservation of energy.

Zz.

 

[pmb_phy]

When a photon is emitted, where did it come from? Did something cause it to be created and then emitted, or was it inside something and then released? How's it work?

A photon is a particle that is actually created. How its created will depend on the particular process.

Pete

 

[John_Charles_Webb]

When a photon is emitted, where did it come from? Did something cause it to be created and then emitted, or was it inside something and then released? How's it work?

Perhaps when light (invisible and with no mass) reflects off of an object a photon(s) is (are) created.

 

[DaTario]

In my opinion light, coming from atomic de-excitation must come from a physical principle very closely related to that one which tells us that accelerated charge emitts radiation.
Perhaps, in between two stable orbits, the "collapse" dynamics are very much the same as the one predicted by classical theory.

Best Wishes

DaTario

 

[ZapperZ]

In my opinion light, coming from atomic de-excitation must come from a physical principle very closely related to that one which tells us that accelerated charge emitts radiation.
Perhaps, in between two stable orbits, the "collapse" dynamics are very much the same as the one predicted by classical theory.

I don't quite agree to that. If you say that QED can describe both energy transition and charge acceleration in the production of photons, I agree. But if you claim that classical E&M theory can make a coherent explanation for light emission in energy transition, I haven't seen it.

Remember that in an energy transition in an atom to emit photons, it isn't just a change in the principle quantum number "n" that produces an energy change. There is also a selection rule that requires a change of +- 1 in the orbital angular momentum. This accounts for the spin 1 that photons have and preserves conservation laws in a single transition.

Zz.

 

[DaTario]

Dear Zz,

I didn't say "classical E&M theory can make a coherent explanation for light emission in energy transition" but instead I said that, in my opinion, the photon's structure must have something of what is involved in the classical E&M explanation. Spin stuff is a nice argument of yours, and force me to take back my words and try another way to express my ideas.

If the electromagnetic field can be thinked of as a depositary of angular momentum which came from the electronic-atomic decay you may agree with me that it is possible to understand it in terms of the forces that photon will make upon another charged entities located elsewhere in the universe.

Do you agree with me in this point ?

 

[Dr.Brain]

Its a common misconception of imagining a photon to something like a particle , or a point mass , a photon is infact a 'bundle-of-energy' , When you think about n number of photons striking a surface , think about much energy striking the surface.Photons represent the particle nature of light, which carry the energy in paryicle-sense , analogous to wave carrying the wave-energy in wave-nature sense.

BJ

 

[nickthrop101]

but what if you thing of light as a wave, the thwory states that a photon is both a particle and a wave

 

[pallidin]

Hmmm... this is a nearly 6-year old thread.

 

[Drakkith]

but what if you thing of light as a wave, the thwory states that a photon is both a particle and a wave

Photons have both particle and wavelike properties which are explained by Quantum Mechanics.