The Nature of Light

1. The Nature of Light Definitions and Properties of Light

2. Effects of Light Stone was used with the pyramids to reflect light. It has been said in the past: “Space can not be conceived without light.”

3. Philosophies on Light By studying the Industrial Revolution, we can see innovations in building materials. Particularly, the use of iron and glass in buildings. The Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris not only displays the relationship between a building and light, but also symbolizes other deeper philosophies. Elements of many buildings are used to symbolize things we would never think to associate with buildings.

4. Allegorical thinking is taking the essence of one thing to describe something else. The windows in the tower are much larger in scale than those below it symbolizing: the religious outlook that God is not our equal. The glass symbolizes rationale to explain philosophies related to the Virgin Mary: Light penetrates glass but doesn’t break the glass. Mary gave birth to Jesus but was never impregnated by man. Illumination – light enables us to see what is really there – the light of REVELATION.

5. What is the true nature of light? Light may be defined as radiant energy that can be witnessed by the human eye. Many people have studied light. Some have had differing views of the true nature of light. Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) was a physicist and astronomer from the Netherlands that made the first pendulum clock, discovered the 4th ring of Saturn, and proposed the wave theory of light.

6. The wave theory of light suggest that light behaves in the same manner as the ripple effect we see when dropping a stone in water. Light can also be compared to music coming out of speakers. Light has the ability to reflect off of surfaces. Light also exhibits the ability of refraction: bending is it passes through two media (i.e. from air to water).

7. Sir Isaac Newton(1642-1747), an English physicist and mathematician among other things, was responsible for theories in universal gravitation, the laws of motion, and the particle theory. Newton felt light was composed of particles he called “corpuscles.” He felt corpuscles behave in the same manner as particles of matter. Particles are similar to waves with respect to rebounding or reflecting off surfaces (ex: a rubber ball bouncing off a wall).

8. Who do you think is correct? or Wave theory Particle theory

9. In reality, both of them werecorrect in some ways. The electromagnetic theory was developed in the late 19th century showing visible light to be a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.

10. The electromagnetic theory still didn’t fully explain the nature of light. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) is responsible for the Theory of Relativity, his Noble Prize for Physics work in electromagnetic radiation, and the photoelectric theory: the emission of electrons by a substance when struck by electromagnetic radiation. The energy of the emitted electron is related to the incoming light energy in the same way the energy of a billiard ball is related to the energy of the cue ball that strikes it.

11. The photoelectric theory had some flaws as well. With the help of German theoretical physicist Max Planck (1858-1947), Einstein developed the Quantum Theory: energy is not absorbed or radiated continuously but in multiples of definite and discontinuous units. Planck and Einstein also developed the notion that light was energy was radiated at the speed of light in the form of wave packets of energy called photons.

12. What is the Nature of Light? Light is unique because it combines characteristics of each of the previously mentioned theories. When passing through a medium, light behaves like a wave with the following characteristics: Reflection Refraction Interference (cancellation – two waves superimposed) Diffraction (bending – the waves pass the corners of an object) When interacting with matter (being absorbed or emitted, light behaves like a massless particle.