# Is Light Energy? [duplicate]

I have been thinking about different forms of energy and ways to define them, but I realized that most elementary forms of energy are waves, such as light (a wave in the electromagnetic field). Waves are a transfer of energy, so does that mean light is a transfer of energy? Or is light itself energy?

## marked as duplicate by safesphere, stafusa, John Rennie energy StackExchange.ready(function() { if (StackExchange.options.isMobile) return; $('.dupe-hammer-message-hover:not(.hover-bound)').each(function() { var$hover = $(this).addClass('hover-bound'),$msg = $hover.siblings('.dupe-hammer-message');$hover.hover( function() { $hover.showInfoMessage('', { messageElement:$msg.clone().show(), transient: false, position: { my: 'bottom left', at: 'top center', offsetTop: -7 }, dismissable: false, relativeToBody: true }); }, function() { StackExchange.helpers.removeMessages(); } ); }); }); Aug 7 '18 at 4:49

Light can be said to have a certain amount of energy. For example, when describing light as a collection of particles (photons) the individual photon's energy is equal to $hf$, where $f$ is the frequency of the light and $h$ is Planck's constant.
• I think the fact that the photon is its own antiparticle clouds the issue. No-one would say an $e^+e^-$ pair is energy, but like light they can just appear when there is sufficient energy available. – JEB Aug 5 '18 at 22:55