Photon Energy
Definition
Energy carried by one photon. It is not the same as the total energy delivered by a source or the biological effect of an exposure. Wave descriptions account for interference, diffraction and polarisation, while photon energy helps describe quantised interactions.
- Context
- Electromagnetic radiation
For example, radiation with higher energy per photon need not deliver greater total energy if the number of incident photons is lower.
Ionisation requires an appropriate interaction and target; wavelength alone does not describe every radiation effect.
Related terms
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- Ionisation
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- Mid-Infrared (Mid-IR)
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- Photon
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- Planck–Einstein Relation
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- Refractive Index
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- UV-a
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- UV-C
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- Wave and Photon Models
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- Wavenumber (Cm⁻¹)
- The number of wavelengths per centimetre, equal to 1/λ when λ is in cm. The working unit of vibrational spectroscopy because it...