What is light?

Question

an example of what i mean is sun light as an example. i need an astronomical term?

Answer 1

light is an acceptable astronomical term. a broader term is "electromagnetic radiation". electromagnetic radiation includes everything from the highest energy gamma-waves to the lowest energy radio-waves. light is the range of wavelengths/frequencies that we can see.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave-particle_duality

one way to think of light is that it is self-propagating oscillations of electric and magnetic fields.

not only are the electric and magnetic fields perpendicular to the direction of travel, but they are also perpendicular to each other. when the electric field strength is maximum the magnetic field is zero, and the reverse is also true. when the magnetic field strength is maximum the electric field strength is zero.

light has wave-like properties and exhibits wave-like behavior. light also has particle-like properties and exhibits particle-like behavior.

http://www.phys.hawaii.edu/~teb/java/ntnujava/emWave/emWave.html
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/polarizedlight/emwave/

Answer 2

Light is light...that *is* the term. A broader term would be "electromagnetic radiation," which include the entire spectrum from gamma rays to visible light to radio waves.

As for what the stuff of light really is, well, answer that question and you might win a Nobel Prize.

Answer 3

It is a wave of electromagnetic energy.

Or you could think of light as a stream of particles of energy called photons.

Photons are more like clouds of energy, that get more dense toward the middle, than actual solid particles.

Answer 4

light is an electromagnetic disturbance of space. it is not light or heat or anything else. When it strikes matter it has an influence on the matter.

Answer 5

gravitational shifting in the fifth dimension.

just kidding.