POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.off-topic : Wave energy : Re: Wave energy Server Time
4 Sep 2024 11:18:16 EDT (-0400)
  Re: Wave energy  
From: Darren New
Date: 10 May 2010 12:20:23
Message: <4be83247$1@news.povray.org>
Warp wrote:
> scott <sco### [at] scottcom> wrote:
>> The energy of a photon is easy to look up, and depends only on the 
>> wavelength (lower wavelength = more energy).
> 
>   Are you sure the energy does not depend on amplitude? One would think
> that you need more energy for a larger amplitude.

If you mean "amplitude" in the quantum mechanical sense of the word, no. If 
you mean "amplitude" in the sense of "strength", then no, all photons are 
100% identical and fungible, so they all have the same energy content, 
except for the "wavelength" which is controlled by how you're moving 
relative to the source etc.  But each photon of a given frequency has the 
same energy as any other photon of a given frequency.  A brighter light is 
just more photons.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
    Ada - the programming language trying to avoid
    you literally shooting yourself in the foot.


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