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Re: COLLISION 2



At 09:11 AM 11/29/99 -0500, Michael N. Monce wrote:

A photon leaves the sun with h-nu of energy, travels through
space, strikes the surface of the earth and is absorbed by an atom.

Then at 01:36 PM 11/29/99 -0700, Jim Green replied:
>
As to photons: If I believed that there is really such a real particle as
a photon, I might be able to discuss it, but I currently assume that a
photon is one of those vagaries of physics language that we use because we
really don't understand what we are talking about.

Hmmm, "what _we_ are talking about"??? Please speak for yourself, Kemosabe.

When I read M.M.'s note, I knew exactly what he was talking about -- and I
certainly assume *he* knew what he was talking about.

He nicely described a physical process that happens every day, in
laboratory settings as well as cosmic settings. You can't make the process
stop happening.

Saying "I don't understand X, therefore X does not exist" is a pretty lame
argument. It has been repeatedly used to argue against local conservation
of energy. Extending it to argue against photons is a further step in the
wrong direction.