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/sci/ - Science & Math

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9186270 No.9186270 [Reply] [Original]

what is a photon?

>> No.9186271

A photon is a type of elementary particle, the quantum of the electromagnetic field including electromagnetic radiation such as light, and the force carrier for the electromagnetic force (even when static via virtual photons). The photon has zero rest mass and always moves at the speed of light within a vacuum.

>> No.9186272

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photon

>> No.9186276

>>9186271
how can a 'particle' have no mass

>> No.9186289

>>9186276
probably because it has two forms wave and particle.

>> No.9186292

>>9186276

Welcome to the BAYLIFE. You are the 757447th student to ask this question and not understand that this is quantum physics. Nothing makes sense.

>> No.9186299

>>9186292
i get that this is not an original question. what im trying to determine is if it makes no sense because people are using language like in:

>>9186289

or what? do we just not know

>> No.9186364

>>9186276
some particles also have no charge, it's just as mysterious or non-mysterious as that

>> No.9186395

>>9186276
by not interacting with the higgs field?

the properties of a fundamental particle don't have a "how" or "why", they just are...

>> No.9186398

>>9186270
It's a boson, a force carrier, specifically the carrier of the electromagnetic force. It's massless and interacts with anything that has electric charge, though it doesn't have electric charge itself.

>> No.9186403

>>9186276
"Mass" is just a quantity that describes the behavior of a particle; in particular, it tells us how the particle appears when viewed in different frames, to simplify it greatly.

>> No.9186426

>>9186395
uhh, most mass has nothing to do with higgs

https://youtu.be/JqNg819PiZY?t=40m

>> No.9186494

>>9186271
>A photon is a type of elementary particle
A photon is a wave, nigger.

>> No.9188035

>>9186494
>what's the photoelectric effect

>> No.9188225

>>9186289
no it doesn't! photon isn't a physical "particle" but merely a quanta of energy of an electromagnetic wave. light IS a wave, but since the wave's energies are quantified, we take "pieces" of the wave to make calculations easier, and these pieces behave like particles in macroscopic models, where quantum mechanical effect is negligible.

>> No.9188229
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9188229

>>9188035
>tfw quantum mechanics can adequately explain photoelectric effect without using particle model, but you won't accept it because muh
god doesn't play dice

>> No.9188868

>>9186426
>most mass has nothing to do with higgs
true, but the masses of gauge bosons (which a photon is) are entirely due to the vev of the Higgs