Re: The Electron

[Brian Whatcott <betwys1@SBCGLOBAL.NET>]

Hertz procured a spark from what was effectively a VHF antenna.
Later, people provided an electrical vibration to drive an antenna.
Though it may be illusory, there is something straightforward, about
imagining an electromagnetic wave traversing an antenna, and detaching
into free space. Extending such a concept of associated magnetic and electric
vibrations to higher frequencies appears to give no sudden conceptual
 discontinuity in the visible range. The required emitter size simply gets
smaller,
becoming atomic in size for X rays.

Fourier would advise us that a quantum of radio energy could not be
represented as a single frequency - but the same proviso applies to any
 short enough pulse of radio energy.

So in truth, a single photon ought not in fact to be associated with one
frequency. Still, I see some recidivism in the view that one photon is like
a particle - and a wave train is an array photons in set phase differences.

Brian W

At 03:30 PM 11/12/2003, you wrote:
> I agree that the electron is an enigmatic entity, but what I find even
> more difficult to accept is the association of a specific frequency with
> a photon of light. I can't imagine any possible mechanism that could
> connect an oscillation to something traveling at a speed c. Each of us
> probably thinks that there is one key problem in quantum mechanics -
> that if we understood this one thing the rest would be easy. I suspect
> we're fooling ourselves :-)
>
> Bob at PC
>
> Tom Manz wrote:
> >
> > The electron is not well understood. No one precisely knows why it has the
> > charge or mass that it does.
> >
> > Understanding the structure of the electron is one of the most difficult of
> > all physical questions. I presume that it will have to wait to be answered
> > until a more fundamental theory of physics is discovered which unifies
> > gravity and electromagnetism.
> >
> > String theory does not explain the fundamental charge or mass of the
> > electron.
> >
> > In fact, very little is known about why elementary particles have the
> > properties that they do. In the Standard Model, the masses and charges of
> > the particles have to be put in, they cannot be calculated.
> >
> > No current theory can predict the charge to mass ratio of the electron with
> > good accuracy from first principles.


Brian Whatcott    Altus OK    Eureka!