Light is it a particle or a wave?

[Twinkles6892]

Could somebody please explain to me why the particle theory of light supports reflection and refraction and the wave theory supports the interference and polarization of light??? I can't find a straight answer anywhere.

 

[WDWHound]

You looking for an explanation of wavicles on a Disney board? This seems an unusual place to be discussing quantum mechanics.

(Come to think of it, someone here probably can answer your question. DISers never fail to amaze me).

 

[Twinkles6892]

Please? anybody, I'm trying to get my essay written before survivor at 8!!

 

[phillybeth]

Originally posted by Twinkles6892
Could somebody please explain to me why the particle theory of light supports reflection and refraction and the wave theory supports the interference and polarization of light??? I can't find a straight answer anywhere.

Because Einstein said so.

Seriously, I know sometimes light acts as a particle and sometimes as a wave, but I don't know under what conditions it occurs.

 

[BeamsofLight]

Where physics and Disney collide.. I'm afraid now.

Ok, it's been a while since optics (particularly high school optics), but I'll take a stab at it. Use this at your own risk.

The particle theory of light supports relection because any particle will reflect off a barrier, with an angle equal to its angle of incidence. Concave and Convex mirrors support this, but their surface is curved, so the angle to the surface is different. However, the basic answer is that, as particles, light particles behave like any other particles when striking a solid barrier.

The wave theory of light supports interference because like all waves that overlap, you will have areas of constructive and destructive interference, just like waves on the surface of a pond.

Polarization is actually more of a particle thing, I think... with the light particles being oriented a specific way (their polarization)... and a polarizing filter simply stops all light particles of that particular polarization, letting the most of the rest through. The farther the polarization of the particle is from the filter's setting, the least likely the particle will be stopped. At a 90 degree of polarization from the filter, the maximum amount of light is let through. Placing another equal filter at a 90 degree angle to the original filter catches all the rest of the light. However, there are still wave effects in this process, since the light that gets through causes constructive and destructive interference waves, allowing you to see properly, without seeing the "bands" of polarization. The amount of light particles making it through is less though, so the light on the other side appears dimmer than the source light.

PM if you need something more, and I'll try to help. I'll be on here until 7. Good luck.

 

[KristaTX]

Originally posted by WDWHound
You looking for an explanation of wavicles on a Disney board? This seems an unusual place to be discussing quantum mechanics.

(Come to think of it, someone here probably can answer your question. DISers never fail to amaze me).

I thought the same thing, Hound. Definitely amazing. BeamsofLight. What an appropriately-named DISer to answer such a question .

By the way - I know you aren't exactly new, but welcome to the DIS, Beams . I haven't seen you around on the CB much.

 

[BeamsofLight]

Right after I posted, my husband pointed out that it was funny that I was answering that question, given my user name. Actually it took me a minute to figure out what he meant.

Thanks for the welcome, Krista - that was indeed my very first CB post. I guess the topic just spoke to me, lol.

 

[stacilee]

My DH informs me that LIGHT is a PHOTON, a subatomic partical.............

Ladies, Doesn't it turn you on when they are so darn smart?!?lol

 

[Dan Murphy]

Welcome to the CB, Beams!!!!!!

 

[Mary Ellen]

The short answer (not very satisfactory, I know): sometimes it acts like a wave, sometimes like a particle (when it does, it's called a photon). Even particles, like electrons, sometimes act like waves.


This is all a result of quantum mechanics - when you look at things on a very small scale (like atoms or molecules) they can't be described the way things on everyday scales are described. So what we end up doing - we try to describe light as a particle, sometimes that works; sometimes it's better to describe it as a wave. If we had grown up seeing things on very small scales, we'd have a better intuition for these things.


Einstein's theory of relativity is also confusing to many people, for similar reasons. We're not used to examining things that go nearly the speed of light.


You can do a google search on "light wave particle" and find several websites that try to explain this. Here are two:


http://www.thespectroscopynet.com/Educational/Wave_particle_duality.htm

and

http://theory.uwinnipeg.ca/mod_tech/node154.html

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The above is courtesy of DH, Physics PhD

 

[Cindy B]

Yes, the light particles are in any physics curriculum content. I wrote a paper on it, but have to dredge it up.