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May 24, 2024 · Mathematics and experiments show that light is a transverse wave – the electric and magnetic field vectors point in directions that are perpendicular to the direction of motion of the light wave (and as it turns out, they also rare always perpendicular to each other). Figure 2.1.1 – Electromagnetic Wave
An accelerated electric charge causes ever moving waves of energy travelling at the speed of light, according to the laws of physics.
Apr 24, 2017 · This directly affects the energy of the wave packet — or burst of waves moving as a unit — according to a relationship established by physicist Max Planck in the early 1900s. If the light is visible, the frequency of vibration determines color. The speed of light is unaffected by vibrational frequency, however.
- Reflection. Reflection is when incident light (incoming light) hits an object and bounces off. Very smooth surfaces such as mirrors reflect almost all incident light.
- Absorption. Absorption occurs when photons from incident light hit atoms and molecules and cause them to vibrate. The more an object's molecules move and vibrate, the hotter it becomes.
- Diffraction. Diffraction is the bending and spreading of waves around an obstacle. It is most pronounced when a light wave strikes an object with a size comparable to its own wavelength.
- Scatter. Scattering occurs when light bounces off an object in a variety of directions. The amount of scattering that takes place depends on the wavelength of the light and the size and structure of the object.
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Unlike water waves, light waves follow more complicated paths, and they don't need a medium to travel through.
When the 19th century dawned, no real evidence had accumulated to prove the wave theory of light. That changed in 1801 when Thomas Young, an English physician and physicist, designed and ran one of the most famous experiments in the history of science. It's known today as the double-slit experiment and requires simple equipment -- a light source, a...
To run the experiment, Young allowed a beam of light to pass through a pinhole and strike the card. If light contained particles or simple straight-line rays, he reasoned, light not blocked by the opaque card would pass through the slits and travel in a straight line to the screen, where it would form two bright spots. This isn't what Young observe...
Young's work sparked a new way of thinking about light. Scientists began referring to light waves and reshaped their descriptions of reflection and refraction accordingly, noting that light waves still obey the laws of reflection and refraction. Incidentally, the bending of a light wave accounts for some of the visual phenomena we often encounter, ...
In the 1860s, Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell put the cherry on top of the light-wave model when he formulated the theory of electromagnetism. Maxwell described light as a very special kind of wave -- one composed of electric and magnetic fields. The fields vibrate at right angles to the direction of movement of the wave, and at right angles...
Light undergoes interference in the same manner that any wave would interfere. And light exhibits the Doppler effect just as any wave would exhibit the Doppler effect. Light behaves in a way that is consistent with our conceptual and mathematical understanding of waves. Since light behaves like a wave, one would have good reason to believe that ...
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Light is a type of electromagnetic radiation that can be detected by the eye. It travels as a transverse wave. Unlike a sound waves, light waves do not need a medium to pass through, they can ...
