Wissenschaftler entdecken neue Eigenschaft des Lichts. Photonen können einen erheblichen Impuls erhalten, ähnlich dem von Elektronen in festen Materialien, wenn sie auf nanometergroße Räume in Silizium beschränkt sind. Die Erkenntnisse könnten zu verbesserten Solarstromsystemen, Leuchtdioden, Halbleiterlasern usw. führen.

ok, so photons can behave like particles and have momentum. that’s pretty cool, i guess. but i’m not sure how it’s going to lead to improved solar power systems or anything else for that matter. maybe the article is just trying to make it sound more groundbreaking than it really is.

i mean, we already know light has particle properties from quantum mechanics and all that. is this really news? i feel like there must be some deeper significance i’m missing here.

I’m confused. Momentum is velocity x mass. As far as I’m aware, photon has constant mass and velocity (assuming it’s traveling in the same medium). So how can it’s momentum change?