Is Light Both Waves and Particles, or Something Completely Different?

[adjacent]

Why do light behaves as both waves and particles?Do it behave like both at the same time or one at a time?

 

[ZapperZ]

Why do light behaves as both waves and particles?Do it behave like both at the same time or one at a time?

Please read the https://www.physicsforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=209, and in particular, this FAQ entry.

Zz.

 

[Emissive]

can we extend this question a little further (yes I did read your link)..

What are some examples of photons acting like waves? The dbl slit seams like an obvious answer but if we look one particle at a time it never is a wave - it doesn't hit the screen in parts - just quanta. Why don't we say the chance of finding light somewhere is a wave but light is a particle?

 

[ZapperZ]

It is neither a wave nor a particle. It can have wave-like and particle-like behavior, but that's all you can say.

The typical wave-like properties are diffraction, interference, etc... i.e. look at all the properties of things we consider as waves, and light has the same characteristics.

Zz.

 

[Drakkith]

can we extend this question a little further (yes I did read your link)..

What are some examples of photons acting like waves? The dbl slit seams like an obvious answer but if we look one particle at a time it never is a wave - it doesn't hit the screen in parts - just quanta. Why don't we say the chance of finding light somewhere is a wave but light is a particle?

The best way to look at it, that I've ever heard, is that light, and all EM radiation, is not purely a wave or a particle, and it is not both. It is something completely different. It is a quantum object that does NOT behave according to our everyday experiences.