Cycle of Photon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Cycle of Photon - Essay Example A photon exudes particle-wave duality, hence has both characteristics of both a particle and a wave. It is of negligible mass and does not have electric charge. It has double states of polarization and can be described by three arguments. These arguments are wave vector components, wavelength and direction in which it is propagated. A photon moves with the speed of light in empty space and its energy is affected by momentum and vector. A photon is among some of the rarest particles that are identical to their antiparticles, in this case, antiphoton. Photon is a generalised term used to explain the electromagnetic spectrum in the range of infrared (IR) radiation to visible light. Transition in the nucleus A photon is one particle that is able to transition in the nucleus of an atom. Though motion is limited in the nucleus, a photon is able to change from one position to another. It is at the nucleus that the energy of an atom is found. However, it is essential to note here that the fo rm of the photon is not changed even though its speed is very high owing to the high level of energy in the nucleus. It moves along with angular momentum that is not dependent on its frequency. The component measured along its direction of motion, herein referred to as helicity, and must be an integer of the planks constant, denoted as h. Circular polarization states of the photon are derived from the two helicities described above, either positive or negative of planks constant. Motion of a photon gives rise to energy being produced and hence law of conservation of momentum must come into play. Conservation of momentum with reference to a photon is also referred to as transitional invariance and requires that more than two photons are created having null momentum. A large sized photon has effects on the nucleus of an atom. Though said to be massless, its effects cannot be overlooked. A photon could alter Coulombs law and there would be extra degrees of freedom for electromagnetic f ields. Energy levels An atom has a varied number of energy levels also referred to as energy states. In each of these energy levels, electrons oscillate with vibrations and thus produce energy. The number of electrons in each energy level increases as the distance from the nucleus increases. The greater the distance, the higher the energy emitted. A photon is emitted when an electron happens to move from a higher energy level to a lower energy level. The wavelength of the photon is the same as the distance between the two energy levels. This photon emitted has energy and this directly proportional to frequency and Planks constant but inversely proportional to its wavelength. The energy emitted by a photon is not dependent much on its mass since its mass is almost negligible though it is known that all matter has mass and occupies space. However, it is imperative to note that photons exhibit the same behaviour regardless of the energy level they are emitted by the transiting electron s. They travel at the same velocity even if moving from high energy level to lower energy level and the velocity can vary in over ten orders of magnitude from the lowest energies of radio waves to the powerful waves of gamma radiation. Photons are usually depicted as packets that carry energy with them though the energy in the packets is discrete. If the photons are travelling as a beam, intensity of such a beam depends on the number of photons per second. Light is also described as