WEEKLY LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET

Physical Science G11 Quarter 2 Week 3a

Light as a Wave and a Particle

Name: _______________________________________________ Section: ____________________

Most Essential Learning Competency (MELC)

Describe how the propagation of light, reflection, and refraction are explained by the wave model
and the particle model of light (S11/12PS-IVf-59).

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe how the propagation of light, reflection and refraction are explained by the wave model
and the particle model of light.
2. Create a timeline recognizing how the light behaves based on evidences, models and
explanations.
3. Evaluate the particle and wave models of light and outline the currently accepted view.

Time Allotment: 4 hours

Key Concept

Light is an amazing phenomenon that wonders man for centuries. Light travels at a speed of
about 300,000 kilometers per second and can travel around the earth 7.5 times in a mere one second.
This property of light is utilized in many technical applications such as optical communications
which transfer huge data in a very short time. In recent years, research of such optical phenomenon
that occurs in this unbelievably short period of time, is becoming essential in new research on
different fields. The exact nature of visible light is a mystery that continues to puzzle scientist from
different eras. Thus, speculations arise and different point of views on how light behaves were always
been an interesting topic to discuss.

Is light a wave or a particle? One point of view envisions light as wave-like in nature, producing
energy that traverses through space in a manner similar to the ripples spreading across the surface of
a still pond after being disturbed by a dropped rock. The
opposing view holds that light is composed of a steady stream
of particles, much like tiny droplets of water sprayed from a
garden hose nozzle. During the past few centuries, the
consensus of opinion has wavered with one view prevailing for
a period of time, only to be overturned by evidence for the
other. Only during the first decades of the 20th Century was
enough compelling evidence collected to provide a
comprehensive answer, and to everyone's surprise, both
© Olympus @ Google.com
theories turned out to be correct, at least in part.
Figure 1. Light as Particle and Wave

Author: Eocelin C. Canonigo 1

School/Station: Cahayagan National High School
Division: Agusan del Norte
Email: [email protected]
Wave model of light vs. particle model

Newton's corpuscular theory stated that light consisted of particles that travelled in straight lines.
Huygens argued that if light were made of particles, when light beams crossed, the particles would
collide and cancel each other. He proposed that light was a wave.
One group of scientists, who subscribed to the wave theory (figure 2), centered their arguments on
the discoveries of Dutchman Christian Huygens. The opposing camp cited Sir Isaac Newton's prism
(figure 3) experiment as proof that light traveled as a shower of particles, each proceeding in a straight
line until it was refracted, absorbed, reflected, diffracted or disturbed in some other manner.
Although Newton, himself, appeared to have some doubt about his corpuscular theory on the nature
of light, his prestige in the scientific community held so much weight that his advocates ignored all
other evidence during their ferocious battles.

©Physics. Stackexchange.com via google.com

©Prism via google.com

Figure 2. Light wave look like? Figure 3. Newton’s Prism

Light Reflection
An excellent comparison of the two theories involves the differences that occur when light is
reflected from a smooth, specular surface, such as a mirror. Wave theory speculates that a light
source emits light waves that spread in all directions. Upon impacting a mirror, the waves are
reflected according to the arrival angles, but with each wave turned back to front to produce a
reversed image (Figure 4). The shape of arriving waves is strongly dependent upon how far the light
source is from the mirror. Light originating from a close source still maintains a spherical, highly
curved wavefront, while light emitted from a distance source will spread more and impact the mirror
with wavefronts that are almost planar.
The case for a particle nature for light is strong with
regards to the reflection phenomenon. Light emitted by a
source, whether near or far, arrives at the mirror surface as
a stream of particles, which bounce away or are reflected
from the smooth surface. Because the particles are very
tiny, a huge number are involved in a propagating light
beam, where they travel side by side very close together.
Upon impacting the mirror, the particles bounce from
different points, so their order in the light beam is reversed
upon reflection to produce a reversed image, as © Olympus @ Google.com
demonstrated in Figure 4. Both the particle and wave Figure 4. When Light Strikes through a
theories adequately explain reflection from a smooth mirror
surface. However, the particle theory also suggests that if
the surface is very rough, the particles bounce away at a variety of angles, scattering the light. This
theory fits very closely to experimental observation.
Author: Eocelin C. Canonigo 2
School/Station: Cahayagan National High School
Division: Agusan del Norte
Email: [email protected]
Light Refraction
In refraction phenomenon, the particle nature is less strong compared to reflection. Huygens'
theory of light refraction, based on the concept of the wave-like nature of light, held that the velocity
of light in any substance was inversely proportion to its refractive index. In other words, Huygens
postulated that the more light was "bent" or refracted by a substance, the slower it would move while
traversing across that substance. His followers concluded that if light were composed of a stream of
particles, then the opposite effect would occur because light entering a denser medium would be
attracted by molecules in the medium and experience an increase, rather than a decrease, in speed.
Although the perfect solution to this argument would be to measure the speed of light in different
substances, air and glass for example, the devices of the period were not up to the task. Light
appeared to move at the same speed regardless of the material through which it passed. Over 150
years passed before the speed of light could be measured with a high enough accuracy to prove that
the Huygens theory was correct.
In 1700s corpuscular theory weakened despite the highly regarded reputation of Sir Isaac
Newton, a number of prominent scientists did not agree with to it. Some argued that if light consisted
of particles, then when two beams are crossed, some of the particles would collide with each other to
produce a deviation in the light beams. Obviously, this is not the case, so they concluded that light
must not be composed of individual particles.
Huygens had suggested in his 1690 treatise Traité de la Lumière that light waves traveled
through space mediated by the ether, a mystical weightless substance, which exists as an invisible
entity throughout air and space. The ether theory lasted at least until the late 1800s, as evidenced by
Charles Wheatstone's proposed model demonstrating that ether carried light waves by vibrating at an
angle perpendicular to the direction of light propagation, and James Clerk Maxwell's detailed models
describing the construction of the invisible substance. Huygens believed that ether vibrated in the
same direction as light, and formed a wave itself as it carried the light waves. In a later
volume, Huygens' Principle, he ingeniously described how each point on a wave could produce its
own wavelets, which then add together to form a wavefront. Huygens employed this idea to produce
a detailed theory for the refraction phenomenon, and also to explain why light rays do not crash into
each other when they cross paths.
When a beam of light travels between two media having different refractive indices, the beam
undergoes refraction, and changes direction when it pass from the first medium into the second. To
determine whether the light beam is composed of waves or particles, a model for each can be devised
to explain the phenomenon (Figure 5). According to Huygens' wave theory, a small portion of each
angled wavefront should impact the second medium before the rest of the front reaches the interface.
This portion will start to move through the second medium while the rest of the wave is still traveling
in the first medium, but will move more slowly due to the higher refractive index of the second
medium. Because the wavefront is now traveling at two different speeds, it will bend into the second
medium, thus changing the angle of propagation. In contrast, particle theory has a rather difficult
time explaining why particles of light should change direction
when they pass from one medium into another. Proponents of the
theory suggest that a special force, directed perpendicular to the
interface, acts to change the speed of the particles as they enter
the second medium. The exact nature of this force was left to
speculation, and no evidence has ever been collected to prove the
theory.
Is light a particle with mass and substance? Or, is it just a
wave traveling through space? Most scientists say light is both a © Olympus @ Google.com
particle and a wave! This concluded the theory of wave-particle
Figure 5. Light Refraction of Particles
duality. and Waves
Author: Eocelin C. Canonigo 3
School/Station: Cahayagan National High School
Division: Agusan del Norte
Email: [email protected]
 Light as you learned is described as a wave, that is, visible, infrared and ultraviolet light. The
electromagnetic spectrum presented light with various wavelengths and frequencies. Blue light has a
smaller wavelength; red light has a longer wavelength. Scientists in the 20th century had begun to
question the wavelike nature of light as they had found new evidence to suggest that light was not
really a wave, but more like a particle. Famous scientists like Einstein, Hertz and de Broglie had to
put their heads together and come up with a better solution for how to think about light. Their
contributions led to the current scientific theory of wave-particle duality.

Evidence of Light as a Wave

Refraction and diffraction are two examples that light exhibit wavelike behaviors. Light refracts
when it travels from one medium to another, because waves travel at different speeds through
different media. In a similar way, light diffracts when it travels between or around objects, because
obstacles make the light waves bend. These are evidence that light are behaving like a wave. We even
use the wave diffraction of light by reading interference patterns in X-ray crystallography. Another
one is the Doppler Effect observed by astronomers in space. They notice a blue shift in the galaxies
moving toward us and a red shift in the galaxies moving further away when they observe distant
galaxies. The apparent change in light frequency is due to the way motion affects the traveling waves.
Waves on the front end of a moving object get bunched together. Waves on the tail end of a moving
object get spread apart. We already know the Doppler Effect discovered in 1842 by Christian Johann
Doppler occurs in sound, and sound is definitely a wave then, so as the light. In 1801 a physicist in
England, Thomas Young, performed an experiment that showed that light behaves as a wave. He
passed a beam of light through two thin, parallel slits. Alternating bright and dark bands appeared on
a white screen some distance from the slit.

Evidences that light is a particle

When Scientist first discovered the photoelectric effect they doubted light as a wave because it
describes the way electrons are excited and emitted from matter when they absorb the energy from
light. In 1887, Heinrich Hertz observed that a charged object would create a bigger, faster spark if it
was treated with ultraviolet light because the light was actually exciting the electrons. Several studies
supported this observation. For a while scientists thought that the electrons were just absorbing the
energy in the light wave and then using that energy to jump out of the metal. The more energy the
electrons could absorb, the more energy they could use to jump out. But, it seems complicated.
Scientists tried increasing the intensity of the lights on the metal. They figured that a greater light
intensity would give more energy to the electrons, making them jump from the metal to a higher
energy level, but that didn't happen at all! Instead, the electrons were emitted at the same energy level
as before; there were just more of them. This theory was rejected. If light was really a wave, then the
energy of the electrons should have increased, not the number. The electrons were not absorbing
energy in a way that matched our wave theory of light. So, if light wasn't really a wave, it’s probably
something else.
Albert Einstein thought up a good solution to this problem. In 1905, he suggested that we should
sometimes think of light as a particle, instead of a wave. He said that if we imagine light to exist in
little packets of energy, then all of our observations make a lot more sense. Think of that beam of light
as though it were a stream of tiny energy packets. Each packet has a mass of zero, so it doesn't weigh

Author: Eocelin C. Canonigo 4

School/Station: Cahayagan National High School
Division: Agusan del Norte
Email: [email protected]
anything. Each packet contains a certain amount of energy, which it can transfer to the electrons
when it strikes the metal. Einstein called these packets light quanta, but now we call them photons.

Activity 1. Behind the Light!

What to do:
Describe how the propagation of light, reflection and refraction are explained by the wave model
and the particle model of light by completing the passage below. Pictures are given to you as clue.
Possible answers are found randomly arranged in the parenthesis written below the passage. Rewrite
the passage with your answer on your answer sheet.

Model/Proponent Description
1. The Corpuscular Theory
of Isaac Newton Isaac Newton described light as made of ________that
travelled in _____________. He used his _______ experiment as
proof that light traveled as a __________, each proceeding in a
____________ until it was __________,_________, _________ or
__________ in some other manner.
(straight path, particles, refracted, absorbed, reflected, diffracted,
disturbed, prism, shower of particles, straight line )

Huygens proposed that light was a _______ that traveled

2. The Wave Model by through_________ mediated by the_________, a mystical weightless
Dutchman Christian substance, which exists as an _______ entity throughout air and
Huygens _______. He believed that ether _________ in the same direction as
light, and formed a wave itself as it carried the light waves. He
ingeniously described how each point on a wave could produce its
own _________, which then add together to form a _________.When
a beam of light travels between two media having different
refractive indices, the beam undergoes __________, and changes
_________ when it pass from the first medium into the second.
(wave, refraction, ether, direction, space, invisible, travel, wavelets,
wavefronts, space)

3. Wave-Particle Duality Albert Einstein suggested light as a __________, instead of a

Concept by Albert _______. Each _______ has a mass of _______, contains a certain
Einstein amount of _______, which it can transfer to the _________ when it
strikes the _________. He called these packets light _________, but
now we call them __________.
(electrons, packet, particle, wave,zero, energy, metal, quanta, photons )
The emission of electrons from
a metal plate caused by light

Author: Eocelin C. Canonigo 5

School/Station: Cahayagan National High School
Division: Agusan del Norte
Email: [email protected]
Guide Questions:

Q1. How Isaac Newton made an impact to the people in his time about his thoughts on light?
Q2. Which of the models about light is more acceptable to you? Explain why.

Activity 2. Twilight Years!

What to do:

Create a timeline on the development of concepts and evolution of ideas about light as presented
in the key concepts. Write the contributor on top and state the contribution below.

The Models are:

Christian Huygens’s Light Wave Model Christian Johann Doppler’s Doppler Effect
Isaac Newton’s Corpuscular Theory Heinrich Hertz’ Photoelectric Effect
James Clerk Maxwell’s Invisible Ether Albert Einstein Wave-Particle Duality Model

1500 1700 1800 1900 2000

Guide Questions:

Q1. How the scientists do established the facts about light that would be acceptable to all?
Q2. What would be the reasons why certain idea remains believable for a certain time and then
change with time?

Activity 3. Glow and Glitz!

What to do:

A. Evaluate the particle and wave models of light and outline the currently accepted view.
Review the evidences on the evolution of the concept of light by completing the table.

Write 3 evidence Write 3 evidence that Write 3 evidence What is your view
that light is a wave. light is a particle. that light is both a about light?
wave and a particle.

Author: Eocelin C. Canonigo 6

School/Station: Cahayagan National High School
Division: Agusan del Norte
Email: [email protected]
 B. In view of the wave model and the particle model of light, what do you think would happen
to the light as it pass through two different mediums and to a plane mirror. Draw a
diagram of light during refraction and reflection then label them properly.

Light Source
Light Source

Transparent
Medium

Mirror
Refraction
Reflection

Figure 6. Wave Model of Light

Light Source
Light Source

Transparent
Medium

Mirror
Refraction Reflection

Figure 7. Particle Model of Light

Guide Questions:

1. What do you think weakened the idea that light is a wave?

2. What do you think is the strongest evidence that light is a particle?
3. Do the Doppler Effect and Photoelectric effect discovery made ideas about light clear enough?
Justify your answer.

Author: Eocelin C. Canonigo 7

School/Station: Cahayagan National High School
Division: Agusan del Norte
Email: [email protected]
Reflections:

Discuss practical applications of the light in one of the three industries below. Write your 5-sentence
answer for your chosen item in a separate sheet of paper.
1. Movie Production and Cinematography
2. Radiation and Medicine Application
3. Architecture and engineering

Rubrics:

5 points - Practical application is scientifically explained consistent to the concepts, and has no
misconception.
3 points- Practical application is scientifically explained consistent to the concepts, but with
minimal misconception.
1 point - Practical application is explained consistent to the concepts, but with misconceptions.
0 point - No discussion.

References

Hewitt, P.G. et.al. (2016). The Nature of Light. Conceptual Physical Science, 6th Edition. Pearson
Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Frank, D., et al. (2002). Pysical Science. Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Toyoda, Haruyoshi (2019). The Nature of Light. HAMAMATSU PHOTONICS Europe GmbH,
Arzbergerstr. 1082211 Herrsching, Germany Accesed on November 05, 2020
https://photonterrace.net/en/photon/behavior/

Olympus Corporation ( 2018). Light: Particle or A wave accessed on November 05, 2020 @
https://www.olympus-lifescience.com/en/microscope-resource/primer/lightandcolor/
particleorwave/

Shipman, J.T (2012) What is Light?. Introduction to Physical Science. Cengage Learning 7th Floor,
Fusion Square Plot no. 5A & 5B, Sector 126, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201303, India
Cengage Learning India Private Limited

Author: Eocelin C. Canonigo 8

School/Station: Cahayagan National High School
Division: Agusan del Norte
Email: [email protected]