The Modern Theory of Light
Light is the manifestation of waves of electromagnetic radiation that varies based on wave intensity, frequency and polarization. The radiation is manifested in the form of photons, which are molecules that show properties and characteristics of particles and radiation waves.
-
History
-
The modern theory of light, or quantum theory of light, is in actuality not modern at all. It was conceived by a man named Max Planck in the early 1900s, and Planck based his quantum theory on the fact that light is emitted from the body as a bundle of energy.
Siginifance
-
Planck's theory states that these pockets of energy are made of particles called, "photons," which are essentially the same as an electron or proton. His theory expands to explain that a photon has a component of energy, frequency and momentum.
-
Fun Fact
-
Max Planck was the recipient of the 1918 Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the quantum theory of light, and the conception of the equation for quantum energy, which is energy is equal to a constant times frequency.
Misconceptions
-
Planck's original theory did not explain or account for the simultaneous wave and particle properties of lights pockets. Albert Einstein was able to take Planck's theory and come to the conclusion that a pocket of light is a particle and a wave at the same time.
Theory
-
In the early 1900s, Albert Einstein took Planck's results and his own study of light to combine them and explain a phenomenon called, "wave-particle duality." Einstein's conclusion was that everything has both a wave property and a particle property. In Einstein's addition to the theory, a photon has a momentum component that is directly proportional to it's frequency and inversely proportional to it's frequency.
Considerations
-
Light particles cause things in their path to move by colliding and pushing their momentum and energy to the particle it hits. The theory of light concludes that the movement or speed of light is based on these collisions.
-
