Wednesday, 29 January 2020

Electromagnetic waves and photons



In water waves, the wave is transmitted through vertically moving water particles which face no displacement nonetheless the wave is moving. So does the same happen with photons in electromagnetic waves or does photons move along the wave?



Answer



Really, photons are the wave. What makes a wave in the classical sense is a large number of photons all averaging together.


Your question is an obvious guess to make -- other wave phenomenon is a result of local interactions within some medium, so electromagnetic waves must be the same. For a while, people guessed that there was a medium that carried electromagnetic waves, and they called it the aether. Turns out, it doesn't exist.


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