Let us then consider one fundamentally important argument of Feynman's that light must be a particle.
Let us then consider one fundamentally important argument of Feynman's that light must be a particle. For many years after Newton, partial reflection by two surfaces was happily explained by a theory of waves,* but when experiments were made with very weak light hitting photomultipliers, the wave theory collapsed: as the light got dimmer and dimmer, the photomultipliers kept making full sized clicks - there were just fewer of them. Light behaves as particles. Feynman though is incorrect in two ways; It is also interesting to see how simply Feynman summarizes QED; So now, I present to you the three basic actions, from which all the phenomena of light and electrons arise. This can now be simplified to two actions with the WSM; Once we realise that there are no separate electron or photon particles, thus we remove the problem as to how an electron particle can interact with a separate photon particle! Thus this solution is actually more consistent (and simpler) than Feynman's QED, particularly when we consider Feynman's further explanation of a positron being an electron which goes backwards in Time. The backwards-moving electron when viewed with time moving forwards appears the same as an ordinary electron, except that it is attracted to normal electrons - we say it has a positive charge. For this reason it's called a positron. The positron is a sister particle to the electron, and is an example of an anti-particle. ..This phenomena is general. Every particle in Nature has an amplitude to move backwards in time, and therefore has an anti-particle. (Feynman, 1985) As Wolff explains this is simply a mathematical truth caused by the fact that a negative time in the wave equations changes the phase of the standing waves to be equal and opposite, which corresponds to antimatter. (Antimatter does no move 'backwards in time'!) And what about photons? Photons look exactly the same in all respects when they travel backwards in time, so they are their own anti-particles. You see how clever we are at making an exception part of the rule! (Feynman, 1985) While it may be clever, it is not good philosophy, and it has led to a very confused and absurd modern physics. Surely it is time for physicists to start considering the fundamental theoretical problems of the existing theories and to appreciate that the Metaphysics of Space and Motion and the Spherical Wave Structure of Matter is a simple, sensible, and obvious way to solve these problems! |
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