In: Physics
Max Planck while studying the blackbody radiation was the first to suggest that the light changes occured in certain discrete equi-spaced units called quanta. Light quanta, also known as photons are the smallest discrete quantities of light, and each quanta/packet differs by an energy h, where h=Planck's constant and is the frequency. Thus, in each absorption or emission from one quantum state to another, energies of a multiple of h are emitted. This is true considering the particle nature of light. Further, the photons are elementary particles(bosons with integral spin). They have a zero rest mass, are chargeless and travel with the velocity of light in free space c. They also exhibit wave-particle duality.