Wednesday, April 9, 2014

In what ways do photons resemble and differ from other particles. What are some of their properties?

Photons like all other particles display a wave-particle
duality. This can be seen easily. The passage of light through a lens displays their
behavior as a wave and their particle nature can be seen by their interaction with a
photo voltaic cell. Only photons with sufficient energy result in electrons being
emitted.


Unlike particles like electrons, photons do not
have a rest mass. They also do not have any charge. All photons travel at a constant
speed which depends only on the material through which they are travelling. The
difference in energy that photons display is due to a difference in their frequency. As
the frequency of a photon increases, so does its energy.

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