Light As A Wave and A Particle
Light As A Wave and A Particle
Light As A Wave and A Particle
particle
I. OBJECTIVES
A. Content Standards
Proper Discussion
What is light energy?
When light
travel in an
straight line
it behave as
a particles.
Christian Huygens, who was a contemporary of Isaac Newton,
suggested that light travels in waves. Electromagnetic waves,
including visible light, are made up of oscillating electric and
magnetic fields as shown. ... The wavelength of a wave is the
distance between successive peaks or troughs of a wave.
Experiment
that light
travel in a
When light discrete
travel in quantum
discrete
motion it
behave as a
wave
Light behaves mainly like a wave but it can also be considered to consist of tiny packages of energy
called photons. Photons carry a fixed amount of energy but have no mass. They also found that
increasing the intensity of light increased the number of electrons ejected, but not their speed.
But light travel in a Vacuum at the speed of 299
792 458 m / s or 3 x 10 8 m/s
Einstein believed light is a particle (photon) and
the flow of photons is a wave. ... The various
properties of light, which is a type of
electromagnetic wave, are due to the behavior of
extremely small particles called photons that are
invisible to the naked eye.
Light can behave both as a wave and as a particle.
As particles, they travel in straight lines, thus,
producing shadows when they hit an obstruction.
It is also the reason why light bounces off or
reflects off of mirrors.
Refraction is also brought about by light particles when they traverse
through media or materials of different refractive indices. It is
thought that opposing forces pull the particles of light from and into
the medium resulting to changes of their direction. The photo-
electric effect is also an evidence that light behaves as particles.
When light with enough energy falls or hits a metal, electrons are
dislodged or knocked off from it to produce a positive (+) metal
surface. The amount of light energy (known as photon) contains a
fixed amount of energy or quantum that depends on the frequency
of the light.
Light also acts as a wave. It has the ability to diffract or
bend around an object. Diffraction involves a change in
direction of waves when they pass from an opening or
around obstacles along their path. Refraction happens
when light waves change direction as they travel
through materials of different refractive indices, say
water and air. Light waves also undergo interference,
the phenomenon that occurs when two waves meet
while traveling along the same medium.
Examples and
applications of
diffraction
Reflection and
Refraction of Light
Reflection and refraction are phenomena that are well-
explained by the behaviors of light. When a source emits
light, its dual property can be observed in different
circumstances. Light, as waves, spread in all directions
when emitted. Upon impacting a smooth, specular surface,
such as a mirror, these waves bounce off or reflect
according to the arrival angles. The waves turn back to
front as they reflect producing a reversed image
The Law of Reflection state that the angle of
incidence θi is equal to the angle of
reflection θr and that the incident ray, the
reflected ray and the normal ray to the
surface at the point of incident all lie on
the same plane.
Snell’s Law state that a ray of light
bends in such a way that the ratio of
the sine of the anlge of incident to
the sine of the angle of refraction is
constant.
The colors of light are absorbed, Reflected,
and Selectively absorbed?
Waves can be absorbed
at the boundary between
two different materials.
When waves are
absorbed by a surface,
the energy of the wave is
transferred to the
particles in the surface.
Transmission of light
Waves can also be
transmitted at the
boundary between two
different materials. When
waves are transmitted,
they continues through
the material. Air, glass and
water are common
materials that are very
good at transmitting light.
An object appears to be
black if it absorbs all the
wavelengths of visible
light.
a.What’s more?