Is Light a particle or a wave?
Light as a wave vs Light as a particle
- A wave will diffract better when the wavelength of the wave is similar to the slit size.
- If the slit is much bigger than the wavelength, diffraction will only happen in tiny amounts around the edges of the slit.
- Diffraction ONLY happens in waves, because Young's double slit experiment shows us that if light was a particle, the particles would either go straight through or not go through because they're too big.
- HOWEVER, the results of the photoelectric effect experiment can only be explained by thinking of light as a bunch of particle-like photons.
- The Photoelectric Effect alongside diffraction, shows us that light can behave as a wave AND a particle, proving the phenomena known as Wave-Particle Duality.