NATURE OF LIGHT

The understanding on Physical Nature of Light has helped scientist with the modern science to
find that light has both particle and wave properties through creation of Quantum
electrodynamics.
At first, Isaac Newton suggested that light travels in a straight line and is like a particle until
Huygens Christian came in.
Christian in his Treatise on Light said that light is like a wave and is spread out from sources to
all direction and it is propagated through ether. He supported his point by deriving the law of
reflection and refraction. He also explained double refraction in calcite.
The idea of Huygens was also supported when Thomas Young was doing an experiment on light
which needed the wave interpretation. The experiment was Double Slit experiment.
In 1821, Augustin Fresnel found that light was a transverse wave. He added that light in ether
were longitudinal in nature. He then developed Fresnel Equation which gives the amplitude of
light reflected and transmitted at plane interface.
James Clerk Maxwell yielded the predictions for the speed of an electromagnetic wave in the
ether in his equations (Maxwell Equations). This resulted into measured speed of light hence
suggesting that light has electromagnetic character. The assumption of ether was concluded
superfluous after the experiment of Michelson and Morley in 1887and the Special theory of
relativity (1905) of Einstein.
The interaction of light with matter become a problem in the wave theory. In 1900, Max Plank
with Germany Physical Society in their meeting derived correct blackbody radiation spectrum by
assuming that light is emitted in discrete energy chunks than continuous manner. According to
Plank, the energy of a quantum of an electromagnetic radiation is proportional to frequency (v)
pf radiation.
E=h v

 Where is Planks constant (6.63 ×10−34j/s)

Einstein supported Plank by explaining that light is like a stream of light quanta whose energy is
related to frequency by Planks equation.
In 1913, Nels Bohr incorporated the equation when he was explaining about the emission and
absorption process of Hydrogen atom. Then in 1922, the model of light quanta came to the
rescue for Arthur Compton, who explained the scattering of X-rays from electrons as particle-
like collisions between light quanta and electrons in which both energy and momentum were
conserved. In 1926, the chemist Gilbert Lewis suggested the name “photon” for the “quantum of
light” and it has been so identified ever since.

PARTICLE AND PHOTONS

The contradiction between photons and electrons was difficult. Gradually it became clear
through reflections of Niels Bohr in his Principle of Complementarity. There is no physical
model that is able to explain the difference between particles and photons.
Quantum mechanics and special relativity predicts that momentum(p), wavelength(λ) and
speed(v) for both particles and photons are given the following equations;

p= √
E2−m2 c 4
c
h hc
λ= = 2 2 4
p √ E +m c
2
pc
=c √ 1−m c
2 4
v=
E

Where λ= wavelength, m= rest mass, E= total energy

The other difference is that photons have zero mass rest, therefore they use the following
equations;
E
p=
c
h hc
λ= =
p E
2
pc
v= =c
E
By applying the equations, it shows that particles have a limiting speed of C while photons travel
with constant speed. Photons have no difference between their kinetic energy and total energy.
The other difference is that particles obey Fermi-dirac Statistics while photons obey Bose-
Einstein Statistics. Photons interact only with charges, according to Quantum Electrodynamics.

THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM

Light is identified as an electromagnetic wave having frequency in the range that human eyes
can detect and interpret. In free space, all electromagnetic wave travel with the same speed(c)
which is merged from Maxwell equations and is given approximately as c=3×10 8m/s. these
waves can be monochromatic or polychromatic.
 ANSWERING UNIT QUESTIONS
1. a. Given;
m=50g v=50mm/s
Momentum =m× v
=0.05kg×50m/s
=2.5kg.m/s
10−34 j
6.63 ×
h s
λ= =
p 2.5 kgm
s
=2.652 ×10−34 m

b. given