photon

[blueman]

Okay, I'm getting little confused--experiments at SLAC and Einstein's nobel-winning photoelectric effect amongst much other evdience tell us an electron can be created by a photon...<br /><br /><br />What then is the difference between a photon and an electron?

 

[vogon13]

A sufficiently energetic photon could produce an electron, and a positron.<br /><br /><br />(little different than what you said . . . )<br /><br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[blueman]

righto, good correction... For the question, I don't simply mean the obvious difference in charge as measured by electron volts, I mean both particles may well travel at lightspeed, and evince many of the same properties--could they be the same thing?

 

[Saiph]

an electron and positron are not the same thing as a photon. For one, they are charged, and two, they have mass.<br /><br />A photon creating an electron-positron pair is merely a consequence of e=mc^2.<br /><br />Atoms can be destroyed to create energy (in the form of photons, and the kinetic energy of the daughter atoms). Also, if energy is concentrated enough, i.e. a sufficiently energetic photon exists, matter can be created.<br /><br />The reason it's an electron-positron <i>pair</i> is because charge must be conserved. The photon is electrically neutral, so the resulting matter creation must <i>also</i> be neutral. Also, the created pair travels fast, but at sub-luminal speeds. <br /><br />Electrons <i>cannot</i> travel at C in a vacuum, light can <i>only</i> travel C in a vacuum. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector.  Goes "bing" when there's stuff.  It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually.  I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[blueman]

Thanks, good answer! Pretty much what I was expecting...