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Different ways of looking at light

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2016 4:26 pm
by Eljie_2F
Light can be described as behaving like a wave or a photon.
When it is described as a wave, it can be said that increasing the intensity of the light increases the amplitude of the wave.
When it is described as a photon, it can be said that increasing the intensity of the light increases the number of photons.
Does this mean that the amplitude of the wave model of light corresponds to the number of photons of light?

Re: Different ways of looking at light

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2016 4:30 pm
by Daniel_Callos_4I
Yes, you are correct. Just remember that neither of these models give us perfect insight into the nature of light and it is hard to form a unified picture; after all, our intuition as humans was developed with macroscopic objects, not unobservable light.

Re: Different ways of looking at light

Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 1:57 pm
by Timothy Yu 2M
So wait, if there are two models of light, the wave model and the particle model...how does that work? Is it like the photons are being in a wave pattern like a wave of ants that look like one solid line from a far but are actually composed of separate ants?

Re: Different ways of looking at light

Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 9:06 pm
by Pratyusha_M_1M
Light can either be modeled as a particle or a wave- it is one or the other. You cannot use both models at the same time.