(April 3, 2014 at 5:47 pm)Chas Wrote:(April 3, 2014 at 5:21 pm)max-greece Wrote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave%E2%80%...le_duality
That really has little to do with it. We are not talking about wave/particle duality, but about mass. Photons have zero rest mass.
Christ Chas.
Lets just take a step back.
I cited the emission of a photon from a light bulb as creation of something from nothing.
You say the photon is merely the form of energy resulting from the change in energy state of the electron.
I'm saying the photon isn't just energy.
Your saying if it doesn't have rest mass then it isn't matter (which doesn't mean its just energy).
That's just to get us up to speed. I never claimed (obviously) that a photon has mass. I don't think its relevant.
Actually - of course - we can't even talk about a photon being at rest - its a photon - it travels at the speed of light - it kinda has to - it can't accelerate or deccelerate.
Now I don't think we can simply ignore the duality issue as you are saying. Part of that duality, for example, is the simple fact that light has momentum. Energy doesn't.
I'd argue, therefore, that the energy released from the electron as it changes state is carried off by the photon but that the photon has indeed just been created out of nothing.
That its massless merely tells us that it doesn't interact with the Higgs field. I don't think THAT's relevant. Actually, if it ever did the universe would be really fucked.
Finally - in all honesty my original photon from nothing post when you switch on a light was flippant - but the more I think about it.....
Kuusi palaa, ja on viimeinen kerta kun annan vaimoni laittaa jouluvalot!
