Question

How does the Heisenberg uncertainty principle apply to photons?

Answer 1

Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle states that more precisely we measure the position of a particle, less precisely you can know it’s velocity and vice versa. It also states that the product of uncertainty in measurement of velocity and uncertainty in measurement of position.

Complete step-by-step answer: - The Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle is a physical law that forms part of quantum mechanics.
- It says that the more precisely you measure the position of a particle, the less precisely you know its motion (momentum or velocity). And more precisely you measure a particle’s motion, the less precisely you can know its position.
- This is contrary to our everyday experience of daily life, where these measurements are independent of each other, and can be measured as precisely as we’d like.
- This principle is used to measure the exact position of electrons. To determine the exact position of s particle we have to collide photons with it and return to the measuring device. As photons have a definite amount of momentum and due to this a transfer of momentum takes place after the collision and this will increase the momentum in the electron also.

Note: Uncertainty principle holds good for all the objects, but this principle is significantly for only microscopic particles. The energy of a photon is sufficient to make change in velocity or momentum of bigger particles when collision occurs between them.