What is light?

Question

I remember being told in school 1st year physics it was a wave, then at Standard Grade (Scottish) it became a particle, I think as my memory has gone, and then in Higher soemthing else. Have Physicists decided definitively yet?

Answer 1

Light is both a wave and a particle. It turns out that "duality" is a common characteristics of sub-atomic or elementary particles/waves. For example, electrons, a well known particle responsible for electricity, exhibit both particle and wave-like behavior (i.e. electron beams used in cathode-ray tubes or TV) exactly the same as light, or also known as photons.

Interestly enough, it was Newton who initially proposed that light was composed of particles called photons, and later it was Einstein who proved it using the "photo-electric effect" and won a Nobel Prize for this discovery.

Answer 2

The best way I find to get my head round wave particle duality is to think,"light travels as a wave but arrives as a particle".
It used to be thought that light could be detected as either a wave or a particle but never both at the same time. Just to detroy that comforting illusion, light has now been "observed" being both things simultaneously.

Answer 3

Light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength that is visible to the eye (visible light) or, in a technical or scientific context, electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength. The elementary particle that defines light is the photon. The three basic dimensions of light (i.e., all electromagnetic radiation) are:

Intensity (or amplitude), which is related to the human perception of brightness of the light,
Frequency (or wavelength), perceived by humans as the color of the light, and
Polarization (or angle of vibration), which is only weakly perceptible by humans under ordinary circumstances.
Due to the wave-particle duality of matter, light simultaneously exhibits properties of both waves and particles. The precise nature of light is one of the key questions of modern physics.

For the following

Contents [hide]
1 Visible electromagnetic radiation
2 Speed of light
3 Refraction
4 Optics
5 Colour and wavelength
6 Measurement of light
7 Light sources
8 Theories about light
8.1 Indian theories
8.2 Greek and Hellenistic theories
8.3 Optical theory
8.4 The 'plenum'
8.5 Particle theory
8.6 Wave theory
8.7 Electromagnetic theory
8.8 The special theory of relativity
8.9 Particle theory revisited
8.10 Quantum theory
8.11 Wave-particle duality
8.12 Quantum electrodynamics
8.13 Alternative Theories
9 References
10 See also

hit the link below

Answer 4

Alright,
The people who told that light is a wave are right on. There are a number of experiments that prove that light is a wave.
The people who said that light is a particle, well they are also right. Here is a lnk that will tellyou a lot more.

Peace out.

Answer 5

No, Light has not been perfectly defined yet. But, u said that u heard light was a wave, its true and light is a particle, ya that's also true since light has dual nature(both wave and particle)

Answer 6

It is said to be photons(almost weightless particles) travelling in a wave motion. So light is both wave and particle.

No one really knows for sure, you cant see photons (for obvious reasons)

Answer 7

according to quantum physics, some items can behave both as particles and waves, which light happens to be one of those things, i think both are acceptable, light can choose to behave as both waves and particle

Answer 8

light is an energy having the two properties-----------
1) particle nature
2) wave nature

Answer 9

The opposite of heavy

Answer 10

ligth is form of engery it has dual nature it wave as well as particle nature ligth conists of photons (weigthless particles) as said by albert einstien and its wave nature can be explained on the basis of diffraction,reflection,refraction.