L IGHT AND C OLOUR Both Perspectives Group 3: Bright Sparks

N EWTON V S H OOKE Light is made of a little particles. They obey the same laws of physics as other masses like planets. Red light refracts least due its mass. More mass, more inertia, less deflection. Light is a wave. Light propagates in a homogeneous medium in a straight line. Colours are the result of the different positions of the pulse of light: for example we see blue when the weakest part of the light pulse precedes and strongest follows

N EWTON AND H OOKE AGREEMENTS Newton said that the white light is composed of many colours (seven colour) Hooke said that the white light is fundamental and uncompounded.

HOOKE VS NEWTON

G ROUPS O PINION : L IGHT DUALITY One way to look at it is as changing electric and magnetic fields which propagate through space, forming an electromagnetic wave. In terms of the modern quantum theory, light consists of particles called photons, which are packets ("quanta") of energy which move at the speed of light. Light has a dual nature as both particles and waves.

C ONCLUSIONS IDEAS We support Newton for his theory about the white light compoused by all the different colours, because we can see this feature in an experiment with a prism. We support Hooke for his theory about the wave form of light because we can explain diffraction and interference thanks to this feature. Even if in Quantum Mechanics we review particles’ theory, their behaviour is different: they don’t have a mass as Newton said.