3 ms·
I am not a physicist, so I'm probably at least subtly wrong, but... The photon has the same energy regardless of where it is measured, but the total intensity
by microcolonel 8y ago
I am not a physicist, so I'm probably at least subtly wrong, but...
The photon has the same energy regardless of where it is measured, but the total intensity of the radiation (of all the photons reaching a unit of area normal to the source) decreases with the inverse square of the distance because the photons move generally (except insofar as they are acted upon by forces like the gravitational and electromagnetic) in straight lines at diverging angles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law
- kakarot 8y agoI'm aware of the inverse square law, which is the entire point of my question. Even measuring a couple feet from the antenna would produce a massive difference in energy levels.
- microcolonel 8y agoMy point was that measuring the energy of a photon is independent from distance. A given photon's energy will remain the same until it interacts with something. The maximum allowed intensity in the ISM band is a known value, 1W; but the energy of the photon is what you should generally be concerned with.