From Particles to Angels

This is the seventh article in the series From Particles to Angels . If you are interested in this article you should read the previous articles in the series in order, beginning with the first ( On Happiness ). In Mysteries of Light - Part 1 we talked about two of the paradoxes of light: the particle-wave duality, and the constancy of it's speed. Before looking at the modern interpretation of the particle-wave duality, I'd like to talk a little about the role and status of light in modern physics, at least as far as my understanding goes. Fundamental Particles and Forces In a way, the story of the development of physics and chemistry and science in general has been about explaining more and more with less and less. Since ancient times, human beings have imagined that the great diversity of things that exist; trees, animals, rocks and clouds; were composed of a few simple elements. The ancients suggested these might be earth, water, air, fire; and the aether. This concep

This is the sixth article in the series From Particles to Angels . If you are interested in this article you should read the previous articles in the series in order, beginning with the first ( On Happiness ). Despite all we know about it, light is still one of the great unsolved mysteries of science, such that it cannot be coherently described. But the mystery of light is also part of the magic of light. The reader of popular science books may find much that is familiar here, while some may come as a surprise. For anything I say that is wrong, I apologise in advance, and similarly for anything that is incomprehensible due to being poorly explained. Particles and Waves You may have heard of "the particle-wave duality of light". Albert Einstein had the following to say of it. "But what is light really? Is it a wave or a shower of photons? .... There seems no likelihood of forming a consistent description of the phenomena of light by a choice of only one of the tw

This is the fifth article in the series From Particles to Angels . If you are interested in this article you should read the previous articles in the series in order, beginning with the first ( On Happiness ). Preamble:  You can think of articles 1 to 4 of From Particles to Angels as constituting the "Introduction" of this series. They give an overview of the subject. If we want to continue the discussion, we need to drill down a level and get into the nitty-gritty. In the article On Happiness we learned that happiness required two things: (1) immortality, and (2) a universe with unlimited potential for fascination. But that article concluded with the statement that the first of these conditions appears not to be met by our universe, at least at present, and perhaps the second condition cannot be met either. Our goal then, in the pursuit of happiness, is to find a way to conclude that we do exist in a universe that meets these two conditions. ("Interstellar"