Photons were first "discovered" by Einstein. In fact, the original purpose of relativity theory was to explain how energy transmission could occur in a space without a medium of transmission, a vacuum. This evolved into an explanation of how anything could travel at the speed of photons (the speed of light).
Photons are described as packets, or quanta, of energy. They are emitted by electrons and are absorbed by them. That is the total activity of photons. They come in all wavelengths, from the lowest of radio up to the hardest of X- rays.
Electrons have been found to orbit the atomic nucleus in shells. These shells are arbitrarily called the K, L, M, N, O, P and Q shells. Each shell holds a certain number of electrons, and the larger shells even have up to four sub- shells each, called the s, p, d and f subshells. Each shell and sub-shell have also been found to have specific shapes.
In the field of Quantum Physics, these shapes are called "probability fields". Electrons are too small to be individually examined without altering their properties in the process. In other words, since we observe things using photons, and since photons are absorbed and emitted by electrons, we cannot observe the exact motion of an electron, for to observe it, the electron would have to absorb and emit a photon and this would change its natural motion and the purpose of our observation would be defeated.
Therefore, electrons are observed only in groups and the orbital shapes show where the maximum probability occurs for the electrons to be found near the atom.
Electrons can contain variable amounts of energy. The energy is proportional to the wavelength of the particle. Electrons in higher shells have more energy than electrons in lower shells. Thus it follows that electrons in higher shells have shorter wavelengths than electrons in lower shells. However they are still the same size as the lower energy electrons. This manifests itself as a more complex shape which allows for more energy, which means more motion, to fit in about the same amount of space.
Electrons in the outer, or highest energy shell of the atom are available for bonding with other atoms. Most atoms do not have their outermost shell full. Bonding between atoms occurs when electrons in the outer shell of an atom become shared with the electrons in the outer shell of another atom.
The six elements that do have filled outer shells are gases. They are electrically neutral and do not bond naturally. These include helium, which is used for lighter than air craft because it will not burn. Neon, Argon, Krypton, Xenon, and Radon are also neutral.
Electrons can gain and lose energy, but only in certain specific amounts. These amounts are called quanta. This is where the term Quantum physics comes from and why photons are called quanta of light. Quanta means a specific quantity, and when electrons gain and lose energy it is in the form of absorbing and releasing photons.
Only electrons in the outer shell of the atom can gain or lose energy. When an electron gains or loses energy, it changes its position within the orbital shell structure of the atom. Electrons gaining energy jump into excited orbits in higher energy shells until they have so much energy that they separate from the atom completely. An electron losing energy sinks back down until it is "at rest" at the minimum energy level that is within the limits of stability for the innermost shell that is not full.
Lasers operate on this principle. In a laser, energy in the form of light or heat is pumped into the "lasing" area. The electrons are stimulated to the point where there are more electrons in excited orbits than in "rest" orbits. At this point they is plenty of room for them to fall back down to a rest orbit. All that is needed is to release some of their stored energy. The continued inflow of light causes this to happen. When an excited electron is struck by a photon and cannot absorb the energy, it releases a photon of its own in the same direction and frequency as the photon that strikes it, and falls back. So, a cascade of coherent light begins at the point of lasing.
Thus the word LASER means Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Of course, this will not happen with any chemical element. Elements are selected that have desirable outer shell properties.
This demonstrates how photons and electrons interact. And it can be practically concluded that as photons originate and terminate as part of electrons, that electrons are in fact made up of photons and are themselves EM waves.
Further, light radiation, the visible portion of the EM spectrum, is generated in LASER technology by changes in electron orbit energy states with the resultant wave frequency determined by the magnitude of the change of state.
Therefore, a "photon", or unit of EM wave energy, is at some point a part of the electron in an excited state. As the frequency of the fledgling photon is dependent on the physical size of the electron orbit, it is possible to conceive firstly that the sinusoidal shape of the EM wave may be a result of the release of energy from a path of circular or lissajous type of design It is possible to conceive secondly that the electron may be composed wholly of EM energy and if then, the electron, a major aspect of atomic structure is actually an EM phenomenon, this concept can also extend to the proton and neutron as similar phenomena.
This concept of electrons as EM waves was originally theorized in 1924 by Louis DeBroglie and proven by Erwin Schroedinger in 1926. By that time two different systems of mathematics had evolved to explain the phenomenon, and to this day it is the starting point of Quantum physics.
But for some reason this is not popularly known, nor taught in basic science classes and the field of Quantum Physics is largely unknown to the general public.Why are other concepts being taught that are known to be false ideas?
The reason for this is that in 1927 a principle was added to Quantum Physics by Werner Heisenberg. It states that we cannot know both the position and momentum of a subatomic particle at the same time. This is true in that as stated above, to measure an electron is to alter the property we are measuring. But this statement has for the past sixty years been used as an insurmountable barrier to the progress of Quantum Physics. The electron orbits were relegated to the status of "probability fields" which leave us with nothing to hold onto and nowhere to go. Hence, for the past sixty years physicists in search of further data on atomic structure have turned to the particle accelerator (or "atom smasher") for the answers, and progress has slowed to a minimum. The name of this principle headlines the failure of Quantum physics. It is the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.
One of the most incredible aspects of this is that it is even postulated in Quantum Physics that the Proton and Neutron are also EM waves, but this cannot be proven so it is ignored!
What if it is true?
Let us take a look at electrons first, as these have already been modeled as waves. Assume that the electron is a wave whose wavelength is a binary multiple of the diameter of the electron orbit. Its motion is to spin like a gyroscope, very solid but itself invisible from the speed of its motion.
The allowable electron orbits are determined by the wavelength of the electron wave. Electron orbits have been measured at 10 -10 meters. So the size and shape of electron orbits is known. For the innermost orbit of the Hydrogen atom, for example, the wavelength is 1.6 angstroms. This, taken as the longest wavelength, gives the electron a frequency in the range of 10 18 cycles per second, which is of course in the x-ray band of the spectrum. *
As a comparison, the highest frequency that can be electronically generated with current technology is in the microwave band at 10 12 cycles per second. Lasers can go even higher, all the way up to the ultraviolet band at 10 15 cycles per second. The electron frequency is still 1000 times higher than that.
Efforts are being made to come up with a laser that will produce output in the x-ray band of the spectrum. This began as part of the Strategic Defense Initiative (or "star wars") space satellite defense program. It is not a coincidence that the frequency band of x-rays is the same as the frequency band of electrons, x-rays are electrons. That is, x-rays are electrons dropped totally out of the atom, that have been totally converted to a photon state.
The current industrial method of x-ray production is very crude. A high energy electron beam is fired at a metallic target and the resulting spray of x-rays goes in all directions. Most of them are absorbed by lead shielding, but a small portion of these are directed toward the target to make an x-ray photograph. X-rays of this kind are not coherent light as in a laser.
Current x-ray laser technology also consists of a few very crude techniques. One is to detonate a small yield nuclear device which in turn vaporizes a metallic strip, releasing x-rays for a millionth of a second. Another is to vaporize the strip using the most powerful lasers available, which take up the size of a warehouse and give off millions of watts of energy. A laser of this size is now being worked on that will generate x-rays directly.
Let us go on to assume that protons are waves. It is now easy to calculate the frequency of this wave as the size of the proton has been accurately measured. Its diameter is 10 -15 meters which gives us a frequency of 10 24 cycles per second. Nothing more is known about its structure, so the simplest model can be used which would give it a spherical shape.
Now the neutron. It has been observed that the neutron is not a stable particle outside of the nucleus. When a neutron leaves the nucleus, it does not last forever. In fact, its average lifetime is about fifteen minutes, at which point it splits into an electron and a proton! So it is not really a unique particle at all, but made of two already known particles! Therefore, its structure must be a combination of the two. More on this later.
It is possible that the atomic nucleus possesses an "orbital" shell structure similar to the way electrons are organized around the nucleus. If protons and neutrons are just as much waves as electrons, the main difference is in size.
In electron shells, no two electrons can have the exact same motion, where motion is measured as a combination of spin and angular momentum within its specific shell.
Now if a neutron is made of an electron and a proton, where are the extra electrons? The only place for them is in the orbital shells, but these are all accounted for. The answer? The electrons are not in the orbital shells, they are in the nuclear shells, and the key to this nuclear shell model of the neutron is in the shape of its orbit, and depends entirely on the neutrons wave structure.
We have now seen how electrons can be viewed as waves and how photons and electrons interact. Also that protons and neutrons can also be viewed as waves, and that there could be a nuclear shell structure similar in function to the electron shell structure.
So what have we gained?
Quite a lot. Someday soon an x-ray laser will be built. This device will produce electrons in the form of a coherent beam with an exact frequency.
I propose the following. If we can synthesize electron frequencies in the form of x-rays, with a little more experimentation can we not achieve the synthesis of anti-electrons in the form of anti x-rays?