For several decades now the question of whether light is a particle or a wave has been under discussion. It is a topic that has led to divergent views from the scientists with some supporting the idea that light is a wave while others consider it to be a particle. Even so, there are also those scientists who firmly support the idea that light is both a particle and a wave. For example, Isaac Newton is considered to be the first scientists who brought out the aspect of light is a particle. His Corpuscular theory of the year 1700 stated that light consists of a collection of particles. However, the corpuscular theory was opposed by other scientists, who came up with the wave theory, in support of the idea that indeed, light was a wave and not a particle. Fundamentally, we all know that light travels in a straight line, and hence, based on this idea, we get to understand the reason behind Newton’s theory. However, Newton’s theory fails to give clear reasons as to why he still finds light to not be a wave and yet it has wave-like features such as diffraction and interference. Equally, the wave theory does not explain the reasons why light displays photoelectric effect functions. My view on this topic, based on the reasons discussed in this paper, I support the ideology that light is both a wave and a particle.
Light is a particle because of the following reasons; it creates high-pitched shadows, it moves in a straight line, and it is chiefly restricted to space. Oppositely, light is a wave because; its rays naturally travel at one speed, such that, two crossing rays cannot crash. These reasons are based on theories which now exist, and which were proposed by great scientists such as Isaac Newton, Grimaldi and Huygens, who took sufficient time to study the properties of light. Isaac mainly supported the idea that light is a particle based on its ability to travel in a straight line whilst forming bright and sharp shadows. On the other hand, Huygens and Grimaldi, came up with the wave theory to support their idea that light is a wave and their conclusion was based on the fact that light has the ability to diffract, a feature that’s characteristic of waves. Later, Young and Fresnel proved that light also contained interference properties. Also, in the year 1864, Maxwell showed that light was certainly an electromagnetic wave.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
In understanding the various reasons why the light is both a particle and a wave, this topic has boosted my desire to partake further research in this field, to come up with new solutions to various problems that our societies are facing at the moment. For instance, the issue of creating devices that can entirely use light as a source of power if solved could help reduce environmental pollutions.
As has been discussed above, light is both a wave and a particle based on the fact that it displays both particles and waves properties.
