Reference: Essays on Substance
Misconceptions about Quanta
Misconceptions about quanta arise from its mathematical origins. A quantum could not be perceived directly, so it had to be visualized. Only thing known was that a quantum was a discrete entity. It could be counted. These were also the properties associated with material particle. So, an association was made between a quantum and a material particle.
However, matter, ultimately, breaks down into atoms that do not coalesce with each other. They form bonds and remain discrete. With energy it is different. Energy of the same frequency may thin out and reduce to individual quantum; but, when many quanta come together, they coalesce back into the continuum of energy.
Planck assumed that energy comes in distinct particles or packets, rather than being continuous; and that has been the fundamental error. Energy may only be emitted in integral multiples of hν, but nothing prevents it from coalescing back and forming a continuous media.
Planck found that the energy radiated from a heated body is exactly proportional to the frequency of its radiation. This doesn’t require radiation of the same frequency to be discontinuous within itself. It is true that radiation of different frequencies shall maintain that difference down to the level of individual quantum. That is how radiation maintains its spectrum.
So, energy can only be absorbed or emitted in discrete amounts, not continuously as previously thought. But, in space, energy of a particular frequency or wavelength forms a continuous medium, until it thins out into quanta.
In 1905, Einstein proposed that light behaves as if it is composed of discrete particles, which we now call photons. This revolutionary idea explained the photoelectric effect and earned him the Nobel Prize in 1921. In 1909, Einstein introduced the concept of wave-particle duality, suggesting that light exhibits both wave-like and particle-like properties. This dual nature of light became a fundamental principle in quantum mechanics.
Einstein carried forward the misconception of the equivalency of a photon with a material particle, which could not split and coalesce back like a fluid particle. Einstein explored the quantum structure of mechanical energies of particles embedded in matter. This work contributed to the view of how energy is quantized at the atomic level.
Later when Einstein believed quantum mechanics should provide a deterministic description of nature, rather than relying on probabilities, he was arguing against himself. Niels Bohr used Albert Einstein’s own theories to defend quantum mechanics during their debates. Einstein accepted the mathematical framework of quantum mechanics, and its explanatory power but questioned whether it provided a complete description of reality.
What was missed by both Einstein and Bohr was that energy of the same frequency formed a continuous medium. A boundary existed only between energy quanta of different frequencies, but not between energy quanta of the same frequency. Energy is quantized at atomic levels because of phenomena such as resonance, etc., but that does not refute the continuity of energy of same frequency and wavelength.
.
