Radiation
Radiation may just be a fantasy as far as the name is concerned. But, is it real when we feel as if something from the Sun warms us. It seems like something is coming from the fire in the fire-place when it warms our backsides So, I will go with radiation, as being real, and will deal with it more in the present tense.
Radiation is generally thought of as two types. Straight line projection__ or wave projection; both emanating from a source.
A straight line radiation can be the path of one particle or a multitude of particles in the single line as a beam. One bullet fired from a gun is single line radiation. Bullets fired from an automatic weapon in a straight path is still a single line radiation. In geometry, radiation can be considered as a single dimension line stretching out in length, as a line drawn from a point. And, it can be two dimensional as lines flat on a plane paper, radiating parallel as the teeth along the edge of a comb. Or, it can be in three dimension, which is difficult to draw, but would be like pins sticking out from a pin cushion.
A wave can also radiate three ways. As a line, it radiates from a point as would a rope would if tied to a tree, and you waved the other end up and down. As a plane wave; it would be like a blanket or flag held with one edge, waving in the wind. If a rock drops in the middle of a pond it radiates waves as two dimensional from a single source, when only considering the surface. If a frog got the hic-ups under water, there may be waves radiating assorted three dimensional throughout the pond water.
A point to make at this juncture is that radiation whether it be single line or wave, or both; is never seen since these words only describe motions, or changing conditions of state, of matter.
If you see a flag waving in the wind... it is just the fabric of the flag in a wiggly motion. Water moving in a pond, or from behind a moving boat is just water moving... in a rippling motion. A projectile fired from a cannon is just a projectile moving in a line. Thus it is with photons of light as quanta emitted in a waving fashion__ being particles in motion. And you really never see light__ the rods in your eyeballs sense the pressure of light. And, you never hear sound waves; the air pressure motions are what move your ear drums, and are converted into sensory perception that is relayed to your brain.
We do see water, as the ocean, swelling up in crests, and lowering into troughs. These crests and troughs appear to be moving across the waters surface... but, in reality it is an illusion. The water only goes, up and down, in an orderly progression, but is not moving in the direction of the wave. When a wave at the beach runs up onto the beach, it is because as it comes down, some water goes back into the ocean, and some hits the beach and rolls up on the beach. If you spill water at the edge of a pond, some goes into the pond, and some spreads out on the earth. This is why waves move in towards the beach... the water in the ocean moving up and down, pressures water up onto the beach, and then allows room for it to recede and flow back to sea.
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A person can get pretty wound up in particle and wave radiation theory. It is my understanding that all matter has wave and particle properties, all the time. It has been my contention that all matter is in motion all the time__ so protons, neutrons, electrons, and photons and any other trons rotating, orbiting, spinning, wiggling, radiating, or being in motion of some type, just puts more feathers in my bonnet. It does make me wonder however if a photon or an electron is a particle, and is radiated as a single particle; is that particle radiating a wave as it moves along a single line trajectory? And, if a photon and an electron is, as said, a point like particle__ what is waving? I also wonder what distance does a wave radiate out into space from a single photon or electron? If a photon or an electron is emitted__ is it's associated wave already radiated out in front of it? Would the electron be sensitive to the actions of its own protruding wave in front of it? Or in other words could an electron sense reflected waves from its own radiated wave interacting or interfering with obstacles? If a particle electron is shot through a slit or hole... would it's associated wave already be, on point, leading and investigating the pathway? See how easy it is to get carried away?!
Whatever__ Radiation has been around since the Big Bang, presuming there was one... and maybe before, so I go with reality...
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Page Relevant Quotes
"In 1906 J. J. Thomson had received the Nobel Prize for proving that electrons are particles; in 1937 he saw his son awarded the Nobel Prize for proving that electrons are waves. Both father and son were correct... In Search of Schrodinger's Cat... Quantum Physics and Reality; by John Gribbin.
"De Broglie thought of the waves as being associated with particles, and suggested that a particle such as a photon is in fact guided on its way by the associated wave to which it is tied. The result was a thorough mathematical description of the behavior of light, which incorporated the evidence from both wave and particle experiments." In Search of Schrodinger's Cat... Quantum Physics and Reality; by John Gribbin.
"Other particles, including the proton and the neutron were subsequently found to possess wave properties, including diffraction..." In Search of Schrodinger's Cat... Quantum Physics and Reality; by John Gribbin.
The complete break with classical physics comes with the realization that not just photons and electrons but all 'particles' and all 'waves' are in fact a mixture of wave and particle. It just so happens that in our everyday world the particle component overwhelmingly dominates the mixture in the case of, say, a bowling ball, or a house. The wave aspect is still there, in accordance with the relation p λ = h, although it is totally insignificant." In Search of Schrodinger's Cat... Quantum Physics and Reality; by John Gribbin.
"In the 1860's and 1870's, the theory of light seemed at last to have been completed when the great Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell established the existence of waves involving changing electric and magnetic fields.
"We all know that electromagnetic waves transport energy. Perhaps you also know that such waves can transport linear momentum. That is, it is possible to exert pressure (a radiation pressure) on an object by shining a light on it." Fundamental of Physics: David Halliday, Robert Resnick, Jearl Walker."
"Heisenberg uncertainty principle; principle of indeterminism: The principle that it is not possible to know with unlimited accuracy both the position and momentum of a particle. An explanation of the uncertainty is that in order to locate a particle exactly, an observer must be able to bounce off it a photon of radiation; this act of location itself alters the position of the particle in an unpredictable way. To locate the position accurately, photons of short wavelength would have to be used. The high momenta of such photons would cause a large effect on the position. On the other hand, using photons of lower momenta would have less effect on the particle's position, but would be less accurate because of the long wavelength." A Concise Dictionary of Physics: Oxford
"Radiation: 1. radiating; being radiated. 2. Physics a. emission of energy as electromagnetic waves or as moving particles. b. energy thus transmitted." The Oxford American Desk Dictionary...
"radiation: 1. Energy traveling in the form of electromagnetic waves or photons. 2. A stream of particles, especially alpha or beta particles from a radioactive source or neutrons from a nuclear reactor." A Concise Dictionary of Physics; Oxford University Press.
