Quizzes & Puzzles68 mins ago
Ether exists.
Light is a series of waves right? And waves need to be within something, hence the belief that ether existed. I am aware that it doesn't, but how is it that light can travel through space?
Answers
Light is a series of waves - wrong.
The wave- particle duality of light is a complex matter but put simply light displays both particle and wave properties.
Light is a series of oscillating electric and magnetic fields. An accelerating charge like an electron causes a magnetic field to build up and die. This causes an electric field to do the same...
Light is a series of oscillating electric and magnetic fields. An accelerating charge like an electron causes a magnetic field to build up and die. This causes an electric field to do the same...
07:19 Mon 07th Sep 2009
Light is a series of waves - wrong.
The wave-particle duality of light is a complex matter but put simply light displays both particle and wave properties.
Light is a series of oscillating electric and magnetic fields. An accelerating charge like an electron causes a magnetic field to build up and die. This causes an electric field to do the same which causes a magnetic field. etc. etc.
These magnetic and electric fields do not require a medium to travel in and their build up and decay gives wave-like properties to light.
The wave-particle duality of light is a complex matter but put simply light displays both particle and wave properties.
Light is a series of oscillating electric and magnetic fields. An accelerating charge like an electron causes a magnetic field to build up and die. This causes an electric field to do the same which causes a magnetic field. etc. etc.
These magnetic and electric fields do not require a medium to travel in and their build up and decay gives wave-like properties to light.
An excellent, accurate, concise answer from jake.
Light is very interesting because even though we have good descriptions of its behaviour we really don't have a good grasp of what light really is. It behaves like a particle and also wave but it is really neither. And in fact behaving like both a particle and a wave is prefectly normal in the atomic scale world. Protons and electons are not well defined solid lumps but fuzzy entities.
Light is light and it is a pretty amazing thing. It can even be turned into matter with the right conditions.
Light is very interesting because even though we have good descriptions of its behaviour we really don't have a good grasp of what light really is. It behaves like a particle and also wave but it is really neither. And in fact behaving like both a particle and a wave is prefectly normal in the atomic scale world. Protons and electons are not well defined solid lumps but fuzzy entities.
Light is light and it is a pretty amazing thing. It can even be turned into matter with the right conditions.
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