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Originally Posted by worth
I'm not so sure they actually know what makes up light. I think the photon has a shady past, but i'm sure these other guys in here know a lot more.
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The photon does not have a shady past. And yes they do know what light is made of.
Light is quantized. The quanta are called photons. Each photon has a characteristic wavelength (or frequency). Photons have no mass. They have a momentum (which I just realized is not equal to hf, but hf/c).
Light also acts as a wave. This is what you are most likely thinking of when you say the photon has a "shady past". How can something be a particle and a wave at the same time? Googling "wave particle duality" does wonders.
http://physics.about.com/od/lightopt...veparticle.htm
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The most common interpretation is that the wave function represents the probability of finding a given particle at a given point. These probability equations can diffract, interfere, and exhibit other wave-like properties, resulting in a final probabilistic wave function that exhibits these properties as well. Particles end up distributed according to the probability laws, and therefore exhibit the wave properties. In other words, the probability of a particle being in any location is a wave, but the actual physical appearance of that particle isn't.
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That sums it up very nicely. Too much nomenclature though maybe, not sure.