Is light a wave or a particle? Well, it's not a particle. The photoelectric effect can be explained with a wave model for light and a quantum model for matter.

Does light behave more like a particle, or like a wave? Today we know the surprising answer. Here's why it took so long to get there.

Does light behave more like a particle, or like a wave? Today we know the surprising answer. Here's why it took so long to get there.

Light doesn’t simply shift from being a wave to a particle at some energy threshold. Instead, all light, irrespective of energy, shows both wave-like and particle-like behavior.

This dynamic interaction is similar to the quantum world, where energy from the quantum vacuum is omnipresent, limitless, and ...

Light doesn’t simply shift from being a wave to a particle at some energy threshold. Instead, all light, irrespective of energy, shows both wave-like and particle-like behavior.

Light has momentum and energy, and it has a wave-like property. Matter also has momentum and energy, so perhaps it also has a wave-like property.

In classical optics, for instance, a brighter light has more energy, and a greater amplitude of its electromagnetic wave.

This ‘wave–particle duality’ embodies many of the central conceptual mysteries of quantum mechanics that are unresolved to this day.

Discover the fascinating world of particle physics — the most fundamental building blocks of the universe and the forces that connect them.