J
jillybee
Guest
I'm reading Brian Greene's "The Elegant Universe" and came across this:
"...Planck suggested that the energy denomination of a wave - the minimal lump of energy that it can have - is determined by its frequency. Specifically, he posited that the minimum energy a wave can have is proportional to its frequency: larger frequency (shorter wavelength) implies larger minimum energy; [and vice versa]." (pg. 92)
I don't quite get how this corresponds to the "sizes" of different quanta of energy. I'm picturing it so that a larger wavelength has a larger quanta of energy than a small wavelength since there is more "room" in the wave in which to store energy. However, this seems to conflict with what is said. Is it because "minimum energy" refers to the amount of energy RELEASED, and not the SIZE of the quanta "stored" in the wave? (sorry if my description isn't very accurate, I haven't really studied this subject and this is just how I picture it in my head.)
"...Planck suggested that the energy denomination of a wave - the minimal lump of energy that it can have - is determined by its frequency. Specifically, he posited that the minimum energy a wave can have is proportional to its frequency: larger frequency (shorter wavelength) implies larger minimum energy; [and vice versa]." (pg. 92)
I don't quite get how this corresponds to the "sizes" of different quanta of energy. I'm picturing it so that a larger wavelength has a larger quanta of energy than a small wavelength since there is more "room" in the wave in which to store energy. However, this seems to conflict with what is said. Is it because "minimum energy" refers to the amount of energy RELEASED, and not the SIZE of the quanta "stored" in the wave? (sorry if my description isn't very accurate, I haven't really studied this subject and this is just how I picture it in my head.)