Corpuscular Wave Dualism and Nature of Light

Light for a long time remained one of the main objects of study. Many scientists sought to know its nature, but it was difficult to do because of limited opportunities. The very first theory, trying to explain the nature of light, was the wave theory. For a long time it was considered correct and correct, and there were no prerequisites for the formation of a corpuscular-wave dualism. At that time in physics there was an opinion that light by its nature is a wave, and atoms and other small particles possessed only corpuscular properties.

The theory began to crumble, because it failed to explain the structure of the atom. Rutherford, as a result of his experiments, made the assumption that the nucleus of the atom is in the center, there the main mass is concentrated, and the electrons are distributed throughout the volume, freely filling the space. But the theory was not confirmed, because according to calculations, such a system could not be stable.

Preconditions for the formation of a new theory

Later, the phenomenon of the photoelectric effect was discovered, which went beyond the framework of classical physics, which dominated at that time. Subsequently, it was the photoelectric effect that helped shape the wave-particle duality, because this led to the need for the creation of quantum physics. Its feature was that the particles received properties that were impossible if viewed in the light of the principles of classical physics. The corpuscular-wave dualism became one of the first theories studied in the new section of physics.

The essence of the photoelectric effect was that ordinary substances emit fast electrons under the influence of short-wave radiation. The main disagreement with classical physics was the fact that the energy of the emitted fast electrons did not depend on the radiation intensity. The values had only the properties of the substance itself, as well as the frequency of the radiation. At that time, it was not possible to explain the mechanisms for the release of photoelectrons from the available data.

The wave theory seemed slender and undeniable. According to her, the radiation energy was uniformly distributed in the light wave. When it hits an electron, it gives it a certain amount of energy, respectively, according to this theory, the higher the intensity, the greater the energy. However, in fact everything turned out a little differently.

Development of the idea of dualism

Albert Einstein began to express ideas about the discrete nature of light. Quantum field theory and the concept of quantum fields that helped shape the wave-corpuscle dualism also began to develop.

The essence is that electromagnetic waves can affect the light, therefore, it has the physical properties of the particle flux-photons. However, in such phenomena as diffraction and interference, light demonstrates the explicit properties of the wave. A number of experiments have been carried out, which prove the duality of the structure of light. It was on their basis that a corpuscular-wave dualism of light was constructed, i.e. Photon exhibits corpuscular properties, but in a number of experiments it had a clear manifestation of wave properties.

It should be understood that such ideas at the moment are of only historical interest. The corpuscular-wave dualism of the properties of matter was formed as a theory at a time when the study of similar properties was just beginning, at the same time, new sections of physics were actually founded. Such a theory was an attempt to explain new phenomena in the language of classical physics.

In fact, from the point of view of quantum physics, such objects are not particles, at least in the classical sense. They acquire certain properties only when approaching. However, the theory of dualism is still used to explain certain principles of the nature of light.