physical nature of a light wave

The suggestion that matter may have wave like properties was first put forwarded in 1924-1925 by Louis De Broglie. He argued that if light, which consists of waves according to classical picture, can sometimes behave like particles, then it should be possible for matt..

Light is a form of energy. Energy can be transferred from one point to another point either by particle motion or by wave motion. Accordingly, different theories on the nature of light have been proposed. The important theories are as follo..

According to wave theory when light falls on a metal surface, energy is continuously distributed over the surface. All the free electrons receive light energy and when the energy received exceeds that of work function, an electron may escape the surface. If we us..

According to wave theory when light falls on a metal surface, energy is continuously distributed over the surface. All the free electrons receive light energy and when the energy received exceeds that of work function, an electron may escape the surface. If we user a l..

Characteristics of Light - Light is a form of energy produced by luminous objects. Light can travel through vacuum. Light can penetrate through transparent materials but cannot pass through opaque objects. Light travels in a straight line in an opti..

Wave Optics - Introduction - The branch of physics dealing with the study of optical phenomena is called optics. This can be divided into two categories, ray optics and wave optics. Wave optics describes the connection between waves and rays of ..

Summary - The phenomenon of interference, diffraction and polarization can be explained by the wave theory of light. But the photo electric effect can be explained only using 'photon theory'. That is using particle nature of light. The experimental study of photoelectr..

The field vectors i.e., can be resolved into y and z components. The unpolarised light can be thought of as superposition of two polarized waves whose planes of vibration are perpendicular to each other as in fig (b). This in turn is further simplified to represent as in Fig (c)..

The ability of the instrument to resolve the images of two point objects lying close to each other. Due to the wave nature of light each point object produces its own diffraction pattern, which overlap, and the image can no longer be identifie..

Refraction of Light In general, if a ray of light is passing from medium 1 to medium 2, then If the medium 1 is air or vacuum, the refractive index of medium 2 is referred to as the absolute refractive index. The refractive index of a medium depends on the following factors: the..