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ENERGY OF A PHOTON:
The Properties of Light," light
was discussed as waves. Light must be treated as waves in order to examine
its propagation through space, the operation of certain optical components,
and to explain phenomena such as polarization, coherence, and interference.
The wave nature of light is not normally used to explain the emission and
absorption of light by atoms. In these processes, light can be described as
behaving more like a particle than a wave, i.e., light seems to consist of
tiny entities, each with its own characteristic energy content. The
"duality principle" of light states that "light cannot be
described completely as either a particle or a wave, but has characteristics
of both," i.e., there is a complementarily of the two concepts. |