The wave-particle duality of photons Tweet In “Nature of light,” we described that light has the properties of wave and a particle. On this page, we will take a second look at that concept. Is light a wave? - Young’s interference experiment - In 1807, an English physicist named Thomas Young asserted that light has the properties of a wave in an experiment called Young’s Interference Experiment. This Young’s interference experiment showed that lights (waves) passing through two slits (double-slit) add together or cancel each other and then interference fringes appear. This phenomenon cannot be explained unless light is considered as a wave. Young’s interference fringes Is light a particle? - Einstein’s light quantum hypothesis - Albert Einstein was a physicist whose life spanned the countries of Germany, Switzerland and America. In 1905 he succeeded in explaining the photoelectric effect which had been unexplainable if one only considers light as a wave. Einstei...
The Science of Mirages We’ve all seen that part in the movie where the weary desert wanderer has been walking for hours and is dying of thirst. Then he happens upon a vast body of water on the horizon. He runs towards the water, it grows closer and closer, until he springs himself into the air only to land back down in the sand and no water in sight. You might think the traveler was hallucinating, but mirages are a naturally-occurring optical illusion. In cartoons, a mirage is often depicted as a peaceful, lush oasis lying in the shade of swaying palm trees, but in reality it is more likely to just look like a pool of water. How do mirages form? Mirages really have nothing to do with water at all. It’s really all about how light travels through air. Normally, light waves from the sun travel straight through the atmosphere to your eye. But, light travels at different speeds through hot air and cold air. Mirages happen when the ground is very hot and the air is cool. The hot ...
PLANETS Hypothetical Planet X Artist's concept of a hypothetical planet orbiting far from the Sun. Credit: Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC) Overview Caltech researchers have found mathematical evidence suggesting there may be a "Planet X" deep in the solar system. This hypothetical Neptune-sized planet orbits our Sun in a highly elongated orbit far beyond Pluto. The object, which the researchers have nicknamed "Planet Nine," could have a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbit about 20 times farther from the Sun on average than Neptune. It may take between 10,000 and 20,000 Earth years to make one full orbit around the Sun. The announcement does not mean there is a new planet in our solar system. The existence of this distant world is only theoretical at this point and no direct observation of the object nicknamed "Planet 9" have been made. The mathematical prediction of a planet could explain the unique orbits of some smaller objects in the Kuiper Belt, a d...
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