Cinematic Interlude  Schmotons  John Baez: Things that

Michael Weiss: A Trivial Exercise

Here's what ought to be a trivial exercise. Say we have a monochromatic beam of light, photon density N photons per square meter per second, angular frequency w. [Pronounce that w as if it was spelled omega.]  Well, this is also a plane electromagnetic wave with amplitude A and angular frequency w. Ought to be possible just using dimensional analysis to figure out the relationship of A to N and vice versa.

Last time I tried that, I didn't get what I expected...
 

3/10/1998