In 1905, Albert Einstein enunciated his theory of the photoelectric effect and managed to provide an explanation for the behavior of light when it was emitted in the direction of a metal plate, causing the emission of electrons from it. The explanation was that light, despite propagating in the form of a wave, was made up of small beams of particles, photons. These particles would have to be constituents of the block of fundamental particles, that is, they would be fermions or bosons. However, because they do not have a fractional spin, they were characterized as gauge bosons, that is, they are the particles that explain the existence of one of the four forces of nature. In particular, photons are mediators of the electromagnetic force. This particle received the Greek letter gamma for representation, and is characterized as a gauge boson without mass, but with a charge density equal to 1x10-18 eV/c2. This helps to provide energy as the particles are incident on a metal plate, and to excite the electrons, which are thrown from the system of overlapping orbitals in the metallic bond. This is the particle behavior attributed to photons, however, the phenomenon of them behaving like waves also occurs, that is, this is what describes the wave-particle duality. Photons have a close relationship with electrons, however, they are neutral particles, which means that this particle is not influenced by magnetic fields, but they are deflected by gravitational fields, however, they have a spin equal to 1 and move at the speed of light in a vacuum in a straight line. For this reason, their mass is considered equal to 0. Basically, photons are created from valence electrons, that is, the outermost ones, which are excited by some source of energy and, in this way, pass from one atomic orbital to another. In addition, there are two other ways to produce photons, one of which is the acceleration of charged particles and the other is the decay of an atomic nucleus. In the latter case, the weak nuclear force is also present, mediated by the W and Z bosons. For more energetic photons, that is, those close to or below the blue wavelength, there is a need for nuclear decay, particle collision or annihilation of particles with antiparticles. Therefore, the energy of the photons influences the type of light generated. However, some homemade equipment can generate photons at long wavelengths, such as radios, for example. The great importance of these particles is that they mediate the electromagnetic force, which is characterized by quantum electrodynamics, therefore, photons are responsible for mediating all phenomena involving electrically charged charges with magnetic fields. This phenomenon began to be described by Paul Dirac in the 1920s, but was proven in the 1960s by Tomonaga, Schwinger and Feynman. It was described by means of a Lagrangian for the interaction between electrons and positrons. _____________________________________________________________________ Science Book Links 1. On the Origin of Species (Darwin) - https://amzn.to/3VCDe1x 2. Pale Blue Dot (Sagan) - https://amzn.to/3FfsOzP 3. Cosmos (Sagan) - https://amzn.to/3FaoJww 4. The Demon-Haunted World (Sagan) - https://amzn.to/3VDOmLz 5. Contact (Sagan) - https://amzn.to/3ONngzd 6. A Brief History of Time (Hawking) - https://amzn.to/3AT8LUL 7. The Universe in a Nutshell (Hawking) - https://amzn.to/3EHEfhX 8. Astrophysics for the Hurry (Tyson) - https://amzn.to/3OHNTFM 9. Homo Deus. A Brief History of Tomorrow (Harari) - https://amzn.to/3F7M55U 10. Sapiens. A Brief History of Humankind (Harari) - https://amzn.to/3EOtY3g 11. Napoleon's Buttons: The 17 Molecules that Changed History (Penny le Couteur) - https://amzn.to/3FjzBbz 12. Mendeleev's Probe: The True Story of Chemistry (Paul Strathern) - https://amzn.to/3XDiCIe 13. The Dance of the Universe (Gleiser) - https://amzn.to/3UgfYFa 14. The End of the Earth and the Sky (Gleiser) - https://amzn.to/3in0Uso 15. The Harmony of the World (Gleiser) - https://amzn.to/3XESEEd _____________________________________________________________________ The Chemical Science channel! aims to always bring scientific information with a strong focus on Chemistry. In our videos you will find: General science, scientific dissemination, chemistry, astronomy, paleontology, epistemology, history of science, scientific education, science teaching strategies and academic life. Below are the channel's social networks: Facebook: /cienciaquimica1 Blog: https://licenciandoemquimica.blogspot... Website about my doctorate: https://exposicaomuseal.wixsite.com/e... Channel Schedule: Every Tuesday: Videos about scientific curiosities.