- #1
jaydnul
- 558
- 15
In classical mechanics, light is modeled as oscillating electric and magnetic fields, where one continuously induces the other, giving it the speed of light.
Then in the 20th century, we discover special relativity which shows that magnetic fields are just electric fields created by length contraction. We also show that every fundamental particle has a de Broglie wavelength that behaves similar to that of a photon. QED shows that the electromagnetic field, as well as the others, is just the exchange of virtual particles. Photons in the case of the EM force.
So why are we still taught in physics 101 this classical view of the photon when really it's just another (massless) particle in the standard model? I mean any other particle, like a quark, isn't described as an oscillating field of some kind, it's modeled as a particle (in the QM sense).
So I guess my question is before the 20th, they believed light was a wave. Can we now explain that wavelike behavior as the de Broglie wavelength of the photon rather than the classical explanation? If so, why is the classical explanation still taught?
Thanks
Then in the 20th century, we discover special relativity which shows that magnetic fields are just electric fields created by length contraction. We also show that every fundamental particle has a de Broglie wavelength that behaves similar to that of a photon. QED shows that the electromagnetic field, as well as the others, is just the exchange of virtual particles. Photons in the case of the EM force.
So why are we still taught in physics 101 this classical view of the photon when really it's just another (massless) particle in the standard model? I mean any other particle, like a quark, isn't described as an oscillating field of some kind, it's modeled as a particle (in the QM sense).
So I guess my question is before the 20th, they believed light was a wave. Can we now explain that wavelike behavior as the de Broglie wavelength of the photon rather than the classical explanation? If so, why is the classical explanation still taught?
Thanks