Ur basic light wave

[xmo1]

A marble falling into a puddle displaces a certain amount of water in every direction except the direction of origin at the size of the marble. Right? That displacement creates waves in the water. It is not the marble that is waving, rather it is the water.<br /><br />I'm thinking that the nature of light is different than the nature of water; water having mass (matter) and light (photons) being massless (energy).<br /><br />No displacement required in energy I guess. Light does not necessarily propagate through a medium.<br /><br />So could someone explain the nature of a light wave; how it gets it's frequency, and what causes it? What is a photon exactly?<br /><br />Got to thinking that light waves are not like waves in the puddle. So what are they? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>DenniSys.com</p> </div>

 

[heyscottie]

It comes from Maxwell's equations. In part, they state the following:<br /><br />1) A moving or changing electric field creates a magnetic field.<br />2) A moving or changing magnetic field creates an electric field.<br /><br />So if you simply move an electron, you are creating a moving electric field, which creates a magnetic field that is changing, which creates an electric field, which creates a magnetic field, ... etc.<br /><br />This electromagnetic wave propogates throughout space.<br /><br />This is the wave nature of light.<br /><br />Another way to look at light is its particle nature. All energy, including light, is quantized, according to Quantum Mechanics. A quanta of light is a photon.<br /><br />At times, light behaves more like waves. At other times it behaves more like particles. This is the mysterious particle-wave duality. Each explanation is equally valid in different cases under different experiments and measurements.

 

[xmo1]

Thank you. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>DenniSys.com</p> </div>