Tuesday, March 03, 2015

Is Light a Particle or a Wave?

 
Now there is a question that drove many scientists over the hill and completely around the corner.

Einstein really threw in a wrench when he proposed that light consisted of both particles and waves but the kicker was that only one state could be represented at a time as both states collapse even though only one is being "viewed".

It now seems that restriction is a thing of the past.  Scientists at the EPFL (Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) have succeeded in capturing light’s wave-particle duality, in a what can only be described as tremendously exciting first-ever image.




2 comments:

kallamis said...

Hmm, I always thought that this was basically considered correct for a very long time. Glad they are finally proving some things.But even if it was only particles, then if it moved in the right way it would be a wave. Of course I'm half asleep and not thinking clearly, but I thought we had been using this concept forever.

Beam Me Up said...

I honestly think along the same lines. Each particle has facets of both. I was much more comfortable with the secondary collapse of the non-observed state. This demonstration of both states at the same time flies in the face of everything I thought I knew about Quantum science. That being said, you got to admit it is one intriguing photo!