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CONCEPT OF QUANTUM

Quantum physics (which is that related to quantised systems) refers to the quantum as the minimum value a magnitude can reach in a physical system to pass from one discreet state to another. Thus, a magnitude is considered quantised according to the value of its quantum. For example, one of the amounts of a quantized physical system that can only take the value of a whole multiple of a quantum value is the electrical charge of the electron, although it is considered a continuous magnitude due to its minute size. In modern quantum theory, the value and meaning of a quantum is relative, the fact that a physical magnitude is quantised has a relative value.

Another example of traditional quantum is in reference to the nature of light, such as quantized magnitude, the minimum amount of energy possible that light can transport would be one photon (half a photon cannot be transported). Other quantised magnitudes are the angular moment of an electron or the spin of a subatomic particle.

In modern quantum physics, the photon is the elemental particle responsible for the quantic manifestations of electromagnetic radiation. This particle is considered the carrier of all the radiation variants within the electromagnetic spectrum, that includes gamma rays, x-rays, ultraviolet light, visible light, infrared light, microwaves and radio waves. Photons are particles lacking in mass that travel in a void at a constant speed.

Like other types of quanta, photons have undulating and corpuscular features, this is the wave-corpuscle duality. It reacts like a wave in phenomena such as refraction that is produced in a lens or the cancellation by destructive interference of reflected waves, behaving like a particle on interacting with a medium and transferring a fixed amount of defined energy.

Energy transferred by a photon: Planck Constant by Speed of Light / Wavelength

This is why the photon is defined as a unit of electromagnetic energy associated to a wavelength.

As with all quanta, photons present both corpuscular and undulating properties.

The previous description of a photon as a carrier of electromagnetic radiation is frequently used by physicists. However, in theoretical physics, a photon could be considered as a mediator for any type of electromagnetic interaction.

Electromagnetic radiation is traditionally subdivided into:

• Cosmic Rays
• Gamma Rays
• Ultraviolet Light
• Visible Light
• Infrared Light
• Microwaves
• Radio waves
• High Frequency

Frenzel, Louis L.¹⁴

(The sun is a source of electromagnetic radiation that delivers from gamma rays to radio waves).

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