What is a photon?
- Marcus.S (Author/editor)
- Jun 7, 2019
- 1 min read
A photon is a mass-less, colorless (Because its energy), super duper fast particle the is responsible for allowing you to see stuff, i.e, this screen.
A photon is the smallest, most discrete amount of energy or quantum of electromagnetic radiation in the universe and is also the most basic unit of light. In a vacuum, a photon will travel at a constant speed of 299,792,458 m/s.
While a photo does not have mass, a photon does have momentum meaning it can interact with atoms, this is why photosynthesis and the Photo voltaic effect are possible.
Photons have different wavelengths and thus are responsible for different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Color works because white light, which is made of of all wavelengths, is fired at high speeds from the sun, or a light bulb, and hits an object. Now, if the object is red, this is because all wavelengths of 'visible light' but the red one have been absorbed. Red then bounces back and hits our eyes where our brain then decides that red is red. period. But, you see the photons are not red, its just that our eyes interpreter the energy of the photon as being of a specific color.
Also, did I mention the the speed of light, denoted by C, is the 'master' speed limit? well this may be because the speed of light is also the speed of causality. but that's a topic for another day.
-Marcus.S
I have this theory that due to different eyes and different brain structure, people actually see different colors but have given them the same name. (I use colorblind people to help with this.) I can look at something and see "red", but a colorblind person looks at the exact same thing and usually see a shade of grey. (I say usually because some look at something "red" and it appears "green".) We know that being colorblind is a real thing. So why couldn't my theory be real? There is no real way (that I'm aware of) to test it. What if what I see when I see "red" is what someone else sees when they see "blue"? But they call…