Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Cambridge University Press eBooks

The Nature of Light

Brian Culshaw

Published Jul 23, 2020• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Chapter 2 : explores the nature of light and the much debated question – should we regard light as an electromagnetic wave (including as a current though a conducting material) or as a particle? The key lies in the fact that (usually) light can be regarded as transmitted as a wave and (usually) light can be regarded as detected as a particle. We explore the implications and conclude that the answer lies in the specific question being asked!

DOI
10.1017/9781316659182.003

Related papers

The Nature of Light

Brian Culshaw

The question ‘is light a ray, a wave or a particle?’ has long fascinated philosophers and has intensified since the concept of the photon first emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century. The pragmatic answer to the question is ‘it depends what you are looking for’ and is really about how best to conceptualise light in particular circumstances. We have already mentioned such distinctions briefly in Chapter 1. This chapter will extend these basic concepts to introduce the material which follows in later chapters.

SPIE eBooks•Oct 5, 2020•0 citations

The Nature of Light

George Asimellis

The very nature of light has been the subject of philosophical consideration since antiquity. As a physical entity, many people have suggested that light has a corpuscular nature, formed of particles, while others have proposed a wave nature instead. Physical entities can be classified as either waves or particles. Waves spread out in space (diffraction), can pass through obstacles, and can be added to other waves (superposition). Particles, on the other hand, move in straight lines due to their inertia unless a force is exerted upon them. If they encounter an obstacle, they simply reverse direction. Light has both properties at the same time! So the questions to ask are: How is light classified? What is light, which we cannot see, but thanks to it, we see?

•Aug 13, 2020•0 citations

Electromagnetic Radiation — A Particle

Edward K. Yeargers

Having just described electromagnetic radiation as a wave, it may seem a bit peculiar to embark on a particle description of that radiation. Perhaps it will help to recall from Chapter 2 that our perception of something depends in part on the means we use to perceive it and that we used a specific experiment (interference) to define the wave property. There is no reason to believe that one human-invented experiment is the only one that can be used to describe electromagnetic radiation. In fact, the Einstein photoelectric effect, described next, is consistent with light being a particle.

CRC Press eBooks•Jan 18, 2018•0 citations

The Photon as a Mass Particle Associated with a Wave

Adnan Salih Al-Ithawi

Neither the pure wave theory nor the pure particle theory can explain the nature of light. Light must be both a particle and a wave. It is a wave because it exhibits interference effects. At the same time, the fact that the photographs contain discrete dots is a direct demonstration that light refuses to be split into units of less than a single photon. We found a general equations that solved all the problems in the current theories for the photon and explained the nature of light by suggesting new hypotheses. According to our results, the photon is a particle which has mass and associated with a wave. The results of the research proved that the refractive index of materials varies with the natural mass of the photon.

International journal of optics and applications•Jan 1, 2015•7 citations

Chapter 2: Quantum mechanics and the Schrödinger equation

Alfio Borzı̀, Gabriele Ciaramella, M. Sprengel

Scientists and philosophers have debated over the nature of light for thousands of years, and, for much of that time, the argument has been over whether light is made of particles or waves. However, as Einstein wrote, “We have two contradictory pictures of reality [particles and waves]; separately neither of them fully explains the phenomena of light, but together they do.”

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics eBooks•Jul 6, 2017•1 citation

Early theories on the nature of heat and light

Ned D. Heindel, Nancy C. Warner

Abstract Though no simple picture has been invented affording a mechanical model of a light ray, by combining the notions of waves and particles a logically consistent theory has been devised which seems essentially capable of accounting for the properties of light as we know them. Radio rays, heat rays, visible and ultra‐violet light, X‐rays, gamma rays and cosmic rays all are thus different varieties of light. We find from our experiments on diffraction and interference that light consists of waves. The photoelectric effect and the scattering of X‐rays give equally convincing reasons for believing that light consists of particles. For centuries it has been supposed that the two conceptions are contradictory. Goaded on, however, by obstinate experiments we seem to have found a way out. We continue to think of light propagated as electromagnetic waves; but whenever the light does something, it does it as photons. In reply to our question, what is light, the answer seems to come, waves and particles, light is both.

Science Education•Mar 1, 1969•0 citations
Chapter 2 : explores the nature of light and the much debated question – should we regard light as an electromagnetic wave (including as a current though a conducting material) or as a particle? The key lies in the fact that (usually) light can be regarded as transmitted as a wave and (usually) light can be regarded as detected as a particle. We explore the implications and conclude that the answer lies in the specific question being asked!
The question ‘is light a ray, a wave or a particle?’ has long fascinated philosophers and has intensified since the concept of the photon first emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century. The pragmatic answer to the question is ‘it depends what you are looking for’ and is really about how best to conceptualise light in particular circumstances. We have already mentioned such distinctions briefly in Chapter 1. This chapter will extend these basic concepts to introduce the material which follows in later chapters.
The very nature of light has been the subject of philosophical consideration since antiquity. As a physical entity, many people have suggested that light has a corpuscular nature, formed of particles, while others have proposed a wave nature instead. Physical entities can be classified as either waves or particles. Waves spread out in space (diffraction), can pass through obstacles, and can be added to other waves (superposition). Particles, on the other hand, move in straight lines due to their inertia unless a force is exerted upon them. If they encounter an obstacle, they simply reverse direction. Light has both properties at the same time! So the questions to ask are: How is light classified? What is light, which we cannot see, but thanks to it, we see?
Having just described electromagnetic radiation as a wave, it may seem a bit peculiar to embark on a particle description of that radiation. Perhaps it will help to recall from Chapter 2 that our perception of something depends in part on the means we use to perceive it and that we used a specific experiment (interference) to define the wave property. There is no reason to believe that one human-invented experiment is the only one that can be used to describe electromagnetic radiation. In fact, the Einstein photoelectric effect, described next, is consistent with light being a particle.
Neither the pure wave theory nor the pure particle theory can explain the nature of light. Light must be both a particle and a wave. It is a wave because it exhibits interference effects. At the same time, the fact that the photographs contain discrete dots is a direct demonstration that light refuses to be split into units of less than a single photon. We found a general equations that solved all the problems in the current theories for the photon and explained the nature of light by suggesting new hypotheses. According to our results, the photon is a particle which has mass and associated with a wave. The results of the research proved that the refractive index of materials varies with the natural mass of the photon.
Abstract Though no simple picture has been invented affording a mechanical model of a light ray, by combining the notions of waves and particles a logically consistent theory has been devised which seems essentially capable of accounting for the properties of light as we know them. Radio rays, heat rays, visible and ultra‐violet light, X‐rays, gamma rays and cosmic rays all are thus different varieties of light. We find from our experiments on diffraction and interference that light consists of waves. The photoelectric effect and the scattering of X‐rays give equally convincing reasons for believing that light consists of particles. For centuries it has been supposed that the two conceptions are contradictory. Goaded on, however, by obstinate experiments we seem to have found a way out. We continue to think of light propagated as electromagnetic waves; but whenever the light does something, it does it as photons. In reply to our question, what is light, the answer seems to come, waves and particles, light is both.