D O C U M E N T 2 9 8 N O V E M B E R 1 9 2 1 1 8 5
For an individual instance of irradiation, full interference radiation is formed but
only a single quantum is emitted, which thus also can reach the receiving screen at
only one spot. But this elementary instance is repeated countless times with as good
as equal interference radiation (the same pattern). The various quanta now distrib-
ute themselves statistically over the pattern in the sense that their average number
at each point on the screen is proportional to the intensity of the incident interfer-
ence radiation there. In this way the observed interference phenomenon is formed,
consistent with the classical
theory.[3]
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My reservations about your consideration are the following:
You leave open the possibility that the interfer-
ence radiation emitted from the canal-ray parti-
cle A in the directions AB and AC exhibits no
Doppler effect. Then the path of this interfer-
ence radiation in the column S would not be
bent; therefore the coinciding path of the ener-
getic radiation, which we can observe, would not be bent.
Yet, on the basis of Stark’s
observations,[4]
we can expect that a Doppler effect
would be observed in the direction AB. But if we change the experiment so that
the rays in B are caught by a prism P,
then the deflection as a result of the
motion of A will be changed. Since
the path W is again marked by the in-
terference radiation, there must be a
Doppler effect in this radiation, contrary to the above-mentioned assumption.
This consideration would lead me to expect that one would see in your experi-
ment the bending demanded by the classical theory. But perhaps I still misunder-
stood you, after
all.[5]
Be this as it may, one would be able to keep to the above-mentioned basic idea
even if (or just if) the experiment yields the bending. As concerns the light quanta,
one can then set up a few statements that form a well-related whole. The following
coincides in various points with the considerations by Emden, Phys[ikalische]
Z[eit]schr[ift].[6]
1. A light quantum is always closely connected with a light beam of a specific
frequency . Its magnitude (energy contribution) is ; it moves in the direc-
tion of the flow of energy. In the ether the velocity is c.
2. The light quantum’s momentum is
B
C
S
A
.
A
B
P
W
h =
c
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