Work Done on Photons During Refraction: Improved Symmetry From a More Consistent Expression for Photon Energy
| Scientific Paper | |
|---|---|
| Title | Work Done on Photons During Refraction: Improved Symmetry From a More Consistent Expression for Photon Energy |
| Author(s) | Allen D Allen |
| Keywords | refraction, Planck's equation, Snell's law, mass and energy conservation, photon, particle, relativistic spacetime, wavelength, self-interference, Heisenberg uncertainty principle |
| Published | 1988 |
| Journal | Physics Essays |
| Volume | 1 |
| Number | 2 |
| Pages | 82-84 |
Abstract
By direct substitution from E = mc2 and <img border="0" alt="lambda" align="bottom" src="http://physicsessays.aip.org/stockgif3/lgr.gif" /> = h(mv)−1, energy becomes E = hc2(<img border="0" alt="lambda" align="bottom" src="http://physicsessays.aip.org/stockgif3/lgr.gif" />v)−1. This reduces to Planck's equation if, and only if, v = c. It follows from Snell's law that a photon undergoing refraction will gain energy <img border="0" alt="sigma" align="bottom" src="http://physicsessays.aip.org/stockgif3/sgr.gif" />E = hc2[(<img border="0" alt="lambda" align="bottom" src="http://physicsessays.aip.org/stockgif3/lgr.gif" />v)−1 − (<img border="0" alt="lambda" align="bottom" src="http://physicsessays.aip.org/stockgif3/lgr.gif" />0C)−1], where <img border="0" alt="lambda" align="bottom" src="http://physicsessays.aip.org/stockgif3/lgr.gif" />0 is its wavelength in vacuo. This very small energy gain arises from work done on the photon's mass by the refracting medium in decelerating the photon from c to v. The medium therefore looses internal energy while the photon is passing through, regaining it when the photon leaves to resume speed c. Photon momentum is a linear, monotone-increasing function of speed, p = hc(<img border="0" alt="lambda" align="bottom" src="http://physicsessays.aip.org/stockgif3/lgr.gif" />0v)−1. The reason photons do not have rest mass is because they cannot rest in space (v = 0) for the same reason massive particles cannot rest in time (v = c): In either case the energy would be infinite. EPR-type paradoxes can be resolved by replacing the notion of self-interference with recognition of the fact that <img border="0" alt="lambda" align="bottom" src="http://physicsessays.aip.org/stockgif3/lgr.gif" />x is the extent of the x-axis that is instantaneously occupied by a particle.
