Quote:
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Originally Posted by Grey
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Jeff Root
Do the amplitudes of the waves represent electric and magnetic
field strengths, or extension in space of the fields? Or what?
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Field strengths.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Jeff Root
Does a photon have extension in space in *any* direction?
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Only in the same sense that other elementary particles have
extension in space. That is, the position of a photon is
"spread out" like any other particle. |
If photons were pointlike, or raylike, with no extension
perpendicular to the direction of motion, I would imagine
them to be able to pass through holes of arbitrarily small
size, nomatter what the wavelength. But I know they can't.
To put it crudely: Are photons unable to squeeze through
small holes because they extend perpendicular to the direction
of motion, and so "bump into" the sides of the holes, or for
some other reason(s)?
-- Jeff, in Minneapolis
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