So when people say light exists as a particle and a wave, I understand what it means in terms of different behavior, but what “is” a wave? A photon is a light particle, is a light wave “made” of anything? Is a light wave just a way that a photon expresses itself? Is it just “energy”? But then, what is energy? Is a microwave “made” of anything, or is it just a way of describing how heat/light behaves under certain conditions?
In: 3
A wave is a back-and-forth change in something that travels along that something.
A sound-wave is an increase and decrease in pressure that travels along the air/water/whatever.
Light is a wave in what is known as the electromagnetic field where it oscilates back and forth.
The confusion seems to be from the fact that when you get down to extremely small scales, things start to behave with characteristics associated with *both* waves and particles. This includes light.
A Photon is a discreet packet of light energy, but that energy still has a wavelength and will behave in partivular manners associated with that wavelength, such as resonance and refraction.
A “microwave” is actutually just light within a specific range of wavelengths, as are radio-waves and gamma rays.
Latest Answers