Photons
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Photons may be described as packets of light energy, and scientists use this concept to refer to the particle-like aspect of light. Photons are unlike conventional particles, such as specks of dust or marbles, however, in that they are not limited to a specific volume in space or time. Photons are always associated with an electromagnetic wave of a definite frequency. In 1900 the German physicist Max Planck discovered that light energy is carried by photons. He found that the energy of a photon is equal to the frequency of its electromagnetic wave multiplied by a constant called h, or Planck's constant. This constant is very small because one photon carries little energy. Using the watt-second, or joule, as the unit of energy, Planck’s constant is 6.626 x 10-34 (a decimal point followed by 33 zeros and then the number 6626) joule-seconds in exponential notation. The energy consumed by a one-watt light bulb in one second, for example, is equivalent to two and a half million trillion photons of green light. Sunlight warms one square meter at the top of Earth’s atmosphere at noon at the equator with the equivalent of about 14 100-watt light bulbs. Light waves from the Sun, therefore, produce a very large number of photons.
Photons may be described as packets of light energy, and scientists use this concept to refer to the particle-like aspect of light. Photons are unlike conventional particles, such as specks of dust or marbles, however, in that they are not limited to a specific volume in space or time. Photons are always associated with an electromagnetic wave of a definite frequency. In 1900 the German physicist Max Planck discovered that light energy is carried by photons. He found that the energy of a photon is equal to the frequency of its electromagnetic wave multiplied by a constant called h, or Planck's constant. This constant is very small because one photon carries little energy. Using the watt-second, or joule, as the unit of energy, Planck’s constant is 6.626 x 10-34 (a decimal point followed by 33 zeros and then the number 6626) joule-seconds in exponential notation. The energy consumed by a one-watt light bulb in one second, for example, is equivalent to two and a half million trillion photons of green light. Sunlight warms one square meter at the top of Earth’s atmosphere at noon at the equator with the equivalent of about 14 100-watt light bulbs. Light waves from the Sun, therefore, produce a very large number of photons.
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