Quanta and Photons

[Adam Kramer 1A]

I am confused by the concept of quanta and photons. Can someone explain how to measure a quanta and/or a photon and what it is exactly?

[Megan Cao 1I]

from what I've learned, quantum is where the values are discrete. so the numbers can only be 1, 2, 3, etc., not 1.2 nor 5.4893. the way I think of it is that electrons can only accept one value (discrete) and nothing else. photons are energy particles of light. so when he talks about the photoelectric effect, I think of something like Newton's Cradle. the ball you pick up and release is the photon traveling to the metal and as the energy tranfers through the metal, on the other side where the ball will swing is the electron leaving.

hope this helps somehow!

[Sion Hwang 4D]

Quanta is a discrete quantity of energy. Meaning, quanta can represent energy as individual packets.
A photon is a quantum of light, and photons can be seen as packets of light energy.
So, there is a pretty similar relationship between quanta and photons.

[Rhea Shah 2F]

Photons are packets of energy of which light is made up of. Quanta are the discrete energy levels that an electron can be at. When a high energy electron loses energy, it drops to a lower quantum level and the rest of the energy is given off as a photon.