photon
The quantum of light and other electromagnetic energy, regarded as a discrete particle…The quantum of light and other electromagnetic energy, regarded as a discrete particle having zero rest mass, no electric charge, and an indefinitely long lifetime. It is a gauge boson.
» A photon is its own antiparticle.
Meaning
1 senses(particle)The quantum of light and other electromagnetic energy, regarded as a discrete particle having zero rest mass, no electric charge, and an indefinitely long lifetime. It is a gauge boson.
Photon, Lichtteilchen
фото́нfotón
фото́нfotón
- a quantum of electromagnetic radiation; an elementary particle that is its own antiparticle
Examples
4 sentencesA photon is its own antiparticle.
Gamma rays are composed of very energetic photons.
Like photons from a light source, electric motors wastefully radiate magnetic energy in all directions.
The force carriers for gravity are hypothetical things called gravitons, for electromagnetism they're the photons.
Translations
9 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
From photo- + -on. Coined by American physicist Leonard Troland in 1916 as a unit of lightFrom photo- + -on. Coined by American physicist Leonard Troland in 1916 as a unit of light hitting the retina, and later popularized in a more modern sense by Gilbert N. Lewis, with the term gaining acceptance in the physics community by the late 1920s.
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