Light

[Zero]

Is it a wave or a particle?

[D351-GUND4M]

Light - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
sorted

[Iroquois Pliskin]

ban desi gundam for being a spoil sport and a noob

[unofficial freshy]

Originally Posted by Iroquois Pliskin ban desi gundam for being a spoil sport and a noob

.

[Zero]

So wikipedia reflects your IQ? Makes sense...

Thats why the topic's in debate and discuss!

[Iroquois Pliskin]

in other words...

[Zero]

I would've got a better response from the student room lol. Need to mingle with more physicists...

[mindstate]

light is a form of hope in a world which is filled with darkness

[StyLeZ]

light is made up of photons. photons behave like waves because they can still be polarised, refracted and reflected. de broglie exaplained this in the form of his equation lamda= h/mv.
i think its particles end of the day.

[Rab C Nesbit]

In my head:
Light - made up of photons, right?
Photons are particles, if I'm not mistaken, but they have wave-like properties?
So, we're basically looking at the concept of wave-particle duality (I think that's what it's called).

It's more of a Quantum topic, which I couldn't get my head around...
...but I'd love to hear everyone elses' thoughts.

[Rab C Nesbit]

Ooh, sorry Stylez, I didn't read your post.

[Zero]

Yeh, what rabsy and stylus said...

Light can bend around a corner if refracted right? Particles can't do this, they'd just carry on going in a straight line.

It's not a question you can answer bluntly...because whenever you feel its a particle its a wave and vice-versa. :/

As people have proved; it exhibits properties of both a wave and a particle. I feel its more like a wave though...perhaps because I'm thinking radiation from the sun = wave and sun gives light?

Soo many complications involving energy as well. Since light travels insanely fast I wonder if people would be able to figure it out completely...

I'm going to dread that day when my kid asks me this question. I'd be like "Go read CGP".

[Rab C Nesbit]

CGP is shit.
Collins did an amazing study guide for AS physics, I loved it to death.

I welcome children's questions, because it gives me a kick up the arse to go and learn something.
Or, it forces me to think about things in a totally different way.

Going back to talking about light and energy...
That's what I've always been confused about.
I can kind of partially see the photon and wave thing...
I can't however, mix those two with energy as well.
Something stops me from getting my head around it.

[Zero]

How dare you say CGP is shit. :O
That taught me Boolean Logic at university level during the summer holidays last year lol! What a 50 quid textbook said in 20 pages was said on three with CGP. I still had the Triple science revision guide. Never did return it...

Maybe the bottom line is Light is an energy but people have complicated it too much just for the sake of science. Like X-rays...they're photons...but with VERY high energry...so they can penetrated more easily. Penetration is a wavelike property, because if it was a standard particle it would either b e blocked, rebounded or absorbed.

So IF Light = Energy AND Energy = Wave

Therefore by Boolean Logic, (using the implication rule):

Light = Wave.

Buhuhuhu, sorted.

[Rab C Nesbit]

They did Uni level revision guides?
I'm going by the guides I used for A Level.
They didn't have the information I wanted to know if I could pass or not.

I used another revision guide for Science, an AQA funded guide.
Everything on it was going to be in the exam.
...and it was all clear and concise.

Then again, people learn differently, and you're amazingly brainy and obviously an academic.
I'm not an academic person at all.