Light Wave Theory: Particles, Vibrations & Pass-Through

[adjacent]

I wonder what is actually a light wave.Is the light particles moving straight and vibrating up and down or the medium vibrating up and down?When light pass through glass for example what happens?Does the light particles vibrate or glass medium?

 

[Johnahh]

there are no particles, light is an electromagnetic wave, a wave consisting of an electric field and a magnetic field sloshing back and forth so to speak. if you are talking about "particles" being photons, photons have particle type characteristics and are discrete packets of energy not physical particles.

 

[adjacent]

Then why did the earlier scientists made up the ether theory?

 

[Johnahh]

If you are referring to quantum theory then yes light is photons, but these are discrete energy packets and not a particle like a proton.

 

[ZapperZ]

Then why did the earlier scientists made up the ether theory?

Because back then, for something to be a wave, there has to be a "medium" for the wave to propagate. There are many things we thought that were correct back then that we know better now.

Your original question requires a bit more explanation on what you already know and can comprehend. For example, if we give you a link to the derivation of the electromagnetic EM wave using Maxwell Equation, are you able to understand that? If you can, then you'll see that the "wave" really is an oscillation of the electric and magnetic field vectors. See this, for example:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/waves/emwavecon.html

Since you are interested in the "wave theory" of light, we will keep it at that without invoking the photon picture.

Zz.

 

[adjacent]

I really don't know anything about maxwell's electromsgnetic theory

 

[ZapperZ]

Then just look at the picture in that link.

Zz.

 

[adjacent]

Thanks