Light What is Light?

Three Ideas about what Light Is Rays or Streamers People commonly think of light as a ray Socrates and Plato thought light to be “filaments” that went from the eye to the object Particles Democritus and other Greeks thought of light as a stream of particles. Modern scientists call light particles Photons Waves Newton discovered that light behaved like a wave

Newton on Light Isaac Newton did experiments in which light formed interference and diffraction patterns just like a wave. Still he preferred the particle theory Later other scientists built on his experiments and found that light was two transverse waves: One Magnetic, One Electric moving together. Light is an “Electro-Magnetic Wave”

Einstein on Light In 1905 Albert Einstein discovered how light was formed. He called it the photo-electric effect. Light is created as little particles of energy called photons So which is right? Particle or Wave?

Wave-Particle Duality Both Are! Most scientists now believe that light has a dual nature Light is a… Wave and a Particle It is called Wave-Particle Duality