0

In Einstein's Photon Theory of Light, he proposed that light consists of distinct chunks or distinct packets of energy called photon and the energy of a photon is given by :

$E=hν$

where $ν$ is the frequency of light. I have a question. Einstein said that light is made up of particles called photons. But at the same time he is also saying that $E=hν$. In this equation, there is frequency which is clearly a characteristic of a wave. How is he associating property of a wave to a particle? How can a photon have frequency? It is a particle, right? It doesn't make sense. It is like he is combining wave and particle to create hybrid between the two. Can someone please explain this?

Qmechanic
  • 220,844
RIPAN BARUAH
  • 889

1 Answers1

0

I prefer to think of a photon as an EM wave “packet” of finite size and with a discrete amount of energy. It can interfere with itself to produce a probability pattern which can be measured in centimeters. The intensity of the wave at any point determines the probability that all of the energy of the packet may be absorbed by some other entity (like an electron) at that point.

R.W. Bird
  • 12,280