The Strongman and the Sledgehammer
Abstract
This paper explores an analogy between a strongman using a sledgehammer and the properties of a photon, specifically its spin and energy. By comparing the mechanics of the arcade game to the behavior of a photon, we can illustrate the relationship between a photon’s spin and its energy, and then extend this analogy to discuss the concept of force.
Introduction
Imagine a strongman attempting to ring a bell at an arcade game. He swings a sledgehammer at a target; the faster the sledgehammer’s head moves, the more energy it carries, and the greater the chance of the striker hitting the bell. This scenario is analogous to the relationship between a photon’s spin and its energy. A photon’s energy is directly related to its spin: the faster a photon spins, the more energy it possesses.
Core Concept
However, there is a crucial distinction between the strongman and the photon. The strongman must expend his own energy to increase the speed of the sledgehammer. In contrast, a photon does not expend energy to increase its spin rate. Instead, a photon’s energy is inherent to its spin. Consider an ice skater: as they pull their arms in, they spin faster, but they aren’t adding any new energy to the system. Their rotational speed increases because their existing energy is distributed differently. Similarly, increasing a photon’s spin rate concentrates its existing energy, and this is achieved by decreasing its axis (moment arm), not by adding external energy. Photons with different spin rates have different rates of energy, analogous to how the ice skater’s energy is expressed as a faster or slower spin. The total energy is the same, but the spin rate reflects how that energy is manifested.
Energy Gradient and Force
The concentration of energy creates an energy speed gradient. This gradient is important because, as established in physics, the force on a charged particle is determined by the product of its charge and the electric field. The electric field, in turn, is equal to the gradient of the potential energy. Since the potential energy of a charged particle is the product of its charge and the potential, and the potential is the negative integral of the electric field along a path, it follows that the force on a charged particle is related to the gradient of the potential energy.
Analogy to Gravity
There are similarities between the force of gravity and the force produced by the energy speed gradient. This is because both the force of gravity and the potential energy gradient are proportional to each other.
Conclusion
In summary, the analogy of the strongman and the sledgehammer provides a helpful, though simplified, way to visualize the relationship between a photon’s spin and energy. While the analogy highlights the link between speed and energy, it’s important to remember that photons increase spin rate by decreasing their axis, not by expending external energy. Furthermore, the energy gradient that results from the photon’s spin is analogous to the potential energy gradient, which is related to force.