Physical Science

WEEK 13 - 14

Light as Wave and a Particle

At the end of the lesson, the student should be able to:

1. Describe how the propagation of light, reflection, and

refraction are explained by the wave model and the particle
model of light.

2. Cite experiment evidence showing that electrons can

behave like

3. Differentiate dispersion, scattering, interference, and

diffraction

Digital Communication and Technological College Inc.

Physical Science
Prepared by: Ms. Julie May V. Profugo, LPT 1
 The Nature of Light
At slow speeds, a curvature of a thrown ball was easily observed because of the
effect of gravity but at high speeds the ball is inclined to follow a straight line. According to
Sir Isaac Newton, light travels in straight lines, thus its particles must move at very high
speeds.

Light can travel straight through empty space (vacuum) until it hits something else.
Once it has hit another surface or particle, it is either
absorbed, reflected (bounces off), refracted (direction and
speed changes), scattered (bounce-off in all directions) or
transmitted (passes straight through) as seen in Figure 1.
But is light a wave or a particle?

Figure 1: Propagation of Light

The Corpuscular (particle) Theory – Newton’s Theory

According to the theory, Newton thought that light is made up of particles that travel
through space on a straight line.

 Reflection is the bouncing of light as it hits a surface. Newton demonstrated that

particles collide with the surface and bounce back (see figure a).
 Refraction is the bending of light. It is an attraction between the molecules of the
medium and the particles of light which contribute to the change of speed as the
particles of the light travels inside the medium (see figure c)
 Diffraction is the bending of light as it passes around the edge of an object. Newton
felt that light does not travel around corners. He explained that any observed effect of
this is caused by the interaction of particles when they run into each other at the edges
of the objects.
 Dispersion is the separation of light into colors. Newton explained that particles of
different mass would be affected differently when refracted.

Figure 2. The reflection of ligjht (a) particles and (b) waves;

refraction of light on (a) particles) and (b) waves

Digital Communication and Technological College Inc.

Physical Science
Prepared by: Ms. Julie May V. Profugo, LPT 2
Wave Theory of Light

Christian Huygens, a Dutch physicist, argued that if light were made of particles, when
light beams crossed, the particles would collide and cancel each other. He proposed that light
was a wave similar to that of water waves.

 Huygens’ Principle – each point on a wave, behaves as a point source for waves in
the direction of wave motion. Huygens’ wave model of light explains reflection,
refraction, and diffraction of light
 Reflection - happens when light bounces off an object. Upon hitting a smooth surface
as illustrated in figure b, light would be reflected. The waves would bounce back,
producing a reversed image of the wave.
 Refraction – is the bending of wave when it enters a medium where its speed
changes. In figure d, the wave front approaches the two media with different densities.
Since the incident wave is travelling as an angle, a small portion of the wave front
starts to slow down upon impact to the boundary while the rest are maintaining their
speeds. This condition makes the wave front bend while entering the second medium
with higher density.
 Diffraction is the slight bending of light as it passes around the edge of an object
which depends on the relative size of the wavelength of light to the size of the opening.
Light is a particle, a wave or both depending on the phenomenon.

Behavior of Light

Phenomenon Can be explained in terms of Can be explained in terms of

waves particles
Reflection  
Refraction  
Interference* 
Diffraction* 
Polarization* 
Photoelectric effect* 
*Shall be discussed in details in the succeeding lessons

ENERGY OF LIGHT

Digital Communication and Technological College Inc.

Physical Science
Prepared by: Ms. Julie May V. Profugo, LPT 3
 Newton thought that light was made of particles (corpuscles) that emanated from the
light source. Light can be described as a quanta or packet of energy that behaves as if they
were particles. Light quanta are called photons. The photoelectric effect introduced evidence
that light showed particle properties. Photons are emitted when electrons of an atom are
excited.

When light is shown on an atom, its electrons absorb photon which causes them to
gain energy and jump to a higher level. Since an electron can only exist at certain energy
levels, it can only emit photons of certain frequencies. The emitted light can be perceived as
a series of colored lines called a line or atomic spectra. Each element produces a unique
set of spectral line.

The electromagnetic spectrum depicts all of the types of light, including those that we
cannot see in our own eyes. In fact, most of the light in the universe is invisible to humans.

The light we can see, made up of the individual colors of the rainbow, represents only
a very small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is called visible light. Other types of
light include radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation, ultraviolet rays, X-rays and gamma
rays — all of which are imperceptible to human eyes.

Figure 3. The Electromagnetic Spectrum EM

The relationship between energy and frequency is given by the equation E = hf, here
h is 6.63 x10-24 joules-second called as Planck's constant. A direct relationship exists;
electromagnetic radiation is more energetic with a higher frequency.

Why do we get easily sunburned in ultraviolet light but not in visible light? The sun is
a source of the full spectrum of the ultraviolet radiation which is responsible for causing us
sunburn.

This UV light has higher frequency than visible light, therefore it has higher energy.

Why is red light used in photographic darkrooms? Darkrooms used red lighting to
allow careful control light to pass through, so that photographic paper which is light sensitive

Digital Communication and Technological College Inc.

Physical Science
Prepared by: Ms. Julie May V. Profugo, LPT 4
would not become overexposed that will result to ruining the pictures during the developing
process. Red light in the visible region of the spectrum has the lowest frequency and lowest
energy and therefore it does not affect the photo developing process.

How do we see colors? Visible light is a small part within the spectrum that human
eyes are sensitive to and can detect. It is of different frequencies and each frequency is a
particular color. Objects appear in different colors because they absorb some colors and
reflect or transmit the others. White objects appear white because they reflect all colors.
Black objects absorb all of them so no light is reflected.

Life and Electromagnetic Waves

Type Applications Life sciences aspect Issues

Requires controls for

Communications remote
Radio MRI band use
controls

Microwaves Communications, ovens, radar Deep heating Cell phone use

Infrared Thermal imaging, heating Absorbed by atmosphere Greenhouse effect

Visible light All pervasive Photosynthesis, Human vision

Ozone depletion,
Ultraviolet Sterilization, Cancer control Vitamin D production
Cancer causing

Medical diagnosis, Cancer

X-rays Medical Security Cancer causing
therapy

Gamma Medical diagnosis, Cancer Cancer causing,

Nuclear medicine, Security
rays therapy Radiation damage

Properties of Light
Dispersion

Digital Communication and Technological College Inc.

Physical Science
Prepared by: Ms. Julie May V. Profugo, LPT 5
 As light enters into a prism, or an object that may act as a prism, it separates into
different band of colors. This separation of white
light into different colors as it passes through a
prism is called dispersion. The separated band
of colors, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo
and violet, ranges from 400 nanometer to 700
nano meter wavelength. Dispersion occurs due
to the slight difference in the refractive index of
each color.

A rainbow is formed after a rainshower when

droplets of falling water acts as a prism that separates
the rays of the sun hitting the water droplets into band
of different colors.

Figure __. A rainbow captured

after a rainshower in Baungon,
Bukidnon.
Photo credits to Ms. Marivic Labita

Did you observe the beautiful, fluffy white clouds like cottons arrange under a faint
blue sky during the middle of the day when
the sun is shining brightly and the beautiful
red-orange horizon in the late afternoon
when the sun is almost setting down?

Scattering of light is responsible for

this blue-colored sky and beautiful horizon.
Tiny dust particles and atoms of oxygen and
nitrogen in the atmosphere which are far A view from San Franz, El Salvador City

apart from each other act as scatterers. Photo credits to Mr. Zigger Villahermosa, SH of
San Franz ES, El Salvador City Division
They scatter sunlight in all directions. Of the band of colors of light, violet has the shortest

Digital Communication and Technological College Inc.

Physical Science
Prepared by: Ms. Julie May V. Profugo, LPT 6
wavelength of 400 nanometer. It is scattered the most, followed by indigo, blue, green,
yellow, orange and red which is scattered the least. But our eyes are not sensitive to indigo
and violet and blue is most predominant to our sight, so we see the blue sky.

In the late afternoon where the sun is in the horizon, the loner wavelength red light
reaches our eyes more than the blue light which is scattered the most. Red being scattered
the least is transmitted and passed through more of the atmosphere than any other color.
Thus, it is the red color together with some orange that reaches our eyes in the late
afternoon and we see the beautiful red-orange sunset.

Clouds are made of water droplets of varying

sizes. Smaller droplets scatter blue, green, and
yellow and even red color. A combination of these
color results in white clouds

Rain clouds appear dark because the water

droplets become bigger and denser and it can absorb
more light than scatter it. It almost all colors are
absorbed, the resulting color is dark or even black.

So, the next time you look up the sky and view the horizon, you know the science behind its
beauty.

Week 13 - 14
Activity Sheet #1
Light as Wave and a Particle

Digital Communication and Technological College Inc.

Physical Science
Prepared by: Ms. Julie May V. Profugo, LPT 7
Student’s Name:_____________________________ Date:_____________________
Grade & Track: _____________________ Teacher: ______________

Complete the chart to describe how reflection and refraction are explained by the wave theory
and the particle theory of light.

Description
Phenomena

By Wave Theory of Light By Particle Theory of Light

Reflection

Refraction

Week 13 - 14
Activity Sheet #2

Digital Communication and Technological College Inc.

Physical Science
Prepared by: Ms. Julie May V. Profugo, LPT 8
 Light as Wave and a Particle

Student’s Name:_____________________________ Date:_____________________

Grade & Track: _____________________ Teacher: ______________

Spotting Similarities and Differences

Compare and contrast any two of radio waves, microwave, infrared, visible light,
ultraviolet, x-ray and gamma ray in terms of properties. Present your output creatively.

Week 13 - 14
Activity Sheet #3

Digital Communication and Technological College Inc.

Physical Science
Prepared by: Ms. Julie May V. Profugo, LPT 9
 Light as Wave and a Particle

Student’s Name:_____________________________ Date:_____________________

Grade & Track: _____________________ Teacher: ______________

Complete the table below.

Applicable light
Properties of Light Description
phenomena

1. 2. Rainbow

Scattering of light 3. 4.

Diffraction 5. 6.

Rainbow-colored
7. 8.
appearance in soap bubbles

Digital Communication and Technological College Inc.

Physical Science
Prepared by: Ms. Julie May V. Profugo, LPT 10