If photons are waves, how can one photon travel across the space

inb4 wave-particle duality meme

>>8438423
They do, when you have groups of them.

You can't when you have only one. Its like asking why an electron doesn't spread out as it travels.

File: worm-bait.jpg (820KB, 1015x1067px) Image search: [Google]

820KB, 1015x1067px

>>8438427
>wave particle duality
>meme

>>8438428
But one photon is still a wave so how does it not spread out like waves do? How can changing electric and magnetic fields be localized and not go to infinity?

>>8438438
>But one photon is still a wave so how does it not spread out like waves do?

An electron is a wave too. You're going to have to swallow this meme if you're gonna understand it >>8438427

>How can changing electric and magnetic fields be localized and not go to infinity?
I don't really know what you're asking here. Everything is localized to some degree.

>>8438459
Okay. What if I have an antenna which radiates spherical EM waves outwards?
If the sphere expands to a radius of something like 2 light-years, is the hypothetical sphere uniformly made out of photons, or are the photons getting more and more scarce as the sphere expands?

>>8438473
Well the amount of photons will stay the same, but the amount per unit area will obviously decrease as your sphere gets bigger

>>8438473
Protip: An electromagnetic field is not "made out of photons", it's really just a fucking field. The photon part comes into play when two fields interact (two photon fields can't interact, but a photon field and a fermion field can interact). The interaction doesn't happen all over the field, it just happens in single points in space time. So it will appear as if all properties of the fields were actually held by particles.

>>8438498
>>8438459
Holy shit /sci/ is so fucking stupid

>>8438504
>implying thats wrong

>>8438423
read up on gaussian beams and wave packets if you actually care. otherwise leave and stop shitposting