Abstract
MR. H. FLETCHER MOULTON‘S paradox1 is ingenious, but easily resolved. The energies of two photons emitted at the same place are not equal if each energy is measured in the co-ordinate system of the moving body at which it is absorbed. Each observer measures wave-length and velocity in his own coordinate system, and deduces the frequency and energy to correspond. The same remark elucidates the mystery of the Doppler effect ; but it must be remembered here that each photon does not show this effect. If one single photon could be received, it would presumably show no Doppler effect (or, indeed, wave-length at all—this is the classical deduction from photo-electric phenomena) ; the wave decides the probability of the photon being found at any given point, or the distribution of the photons if they are present in sufficient numbers.
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Nature, 162, 303 (1948).
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AWBERY, J. Velocity of Photons. Nature 162, 461 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162461b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/162461b0
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