Wave-Particle Duality
The study of the nature of light is an important research area in modern physics. Many, including the theoretical physicist Albert Einstein, have contributed to theories involving light. Of these, the wave-particle duality is arguably the most strange and noteworthy concept in the field. Throughout history, some physicists have argued that light behaves as a wave, such as Christiaan Huygens and others, such as Isaac Newton have proposed that light consists of particles (Wave-Particle Duality, March 2010). Today, as stated in the wave-particle duality, light is said to exhibit wave-like and particle-like properties. And still today, physicists are troubled by understanding this concept. ...
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of particles. Yet other experiments show that light has a frequency or wavelength, just like a sound wave or water wave (Wave-Particle Duality, January 2010). “Until the 20th century, most physicists thought that light was either one or the other, and that the scientists on the other side of the argument were simply wrong.” (Wave-Particle Duality, January 2010)
“If light travels as particles we can imagine particles of light (photons) as bullets fired from a rifle. Imagine a brick wall with two holes in it, each the same size and large enough to fire bullets through, with a second wall behind where the bullets will strike (The Double Slit Experiment, 2008).” After shooting enough bullets, you would see a cluster of bullets behind the two holes (The Double Slit Experiment, 2008). Since this result is indeed what you get with bullets, a similar outcome is expected with photons.
If we instead imagine light as a wave instead of particles, we can imitate its behavior with a water ...
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these two small holes, it created an interference pattern that seemed to show that light was actually a wave (Wave-Particle Duality, January 2010).
However, Taylor furthered this experiment by photographing the film coming out of the holes with a film that is uncommonly sensitive to light. “When bright light was shined through the holes, the film showed an interference pattern, just like Young showed earlier (Wave-Particle Duality, January 2010).” Taylor then turned down the light to a very dim level and when the light was dim enough, Taylor's photographs showed a dotted pattern of light behind the holes. According to this, it seemed that light behaved as a particle. “If Taylor ...
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"Wave-Particle Duality." Essayworld.com. April 28, 2011. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Wave-Particle-Duality/98569.
"Wave-Particle Duality." Essayworld.com. April 28, 2011. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Wave-Particle-Duality/98569.
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