Answer to Question #109034 in Optics for Erneste Ntezirizaza

Question

Is light wave or a particle? support your answer

Answer 1

Light behaves both as particle and wave.

Light is particle : As per the Albert Einstein's experiment, When high frequency light such as UV wave incident on the metal surface then it emits electron form its surface, this phenomenon is called the photoelectric effect by proposing that light – thought to only be a wave – is also a stream of particles.

Light is wave: If the light was a particle it should act like a particle according to particle theory thus the light should have passed directly through the two slits to produce two bright lines. Thus the light is acting like a wave.