Light: A Wave and a Particle (2nd Part)

Topics under this module

 Lesson 7: Electrons Can Behave Like Waves

 Lesson 8: Dispersion, Scattering, Interference, and Diffraction of
Light
 Lesson 9: Light Phenomena I
 Lesson 10: Light Phenomena II
 Lesson 11: Electricity and Magnetism: Franklin, Coulomb, Oersted,
Ampere, Biot-Savart, Faraday, and Maxwell
 Lesson 12: How Hertz Produced Radio Pulses

Light: A Wave and a Particle, Physical Science

Electrons Can Behave Like Waves

Objective
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to cite experimental evidence which
shows that electrons can behave like waves.

Light has a dual nature––a wave and a particle.

Can a particle also behave like a wave?

Learn about it!

de Broglie Wavelength

In 1924, French physicist Louis de Broglie postulated in his PhD dissertation

that if light with a wave phenomenon acts like a particle, then a particle may also
have a wavelike behavior. He further theorized that the wavelength of a particle
is related to Planck’s constant and inversely proportional to its momentum. This
relationship is represented by the equation known as the de Broglie
wavelength:
To prevent other molecules from hitting the electrons, the setup is placed in a vacuum chamber.
They performed the experiment by bombarding a beam of electrons coming from an electron gun,
which is positioned perpendicularly to a single crystal of nickel. They measured the intensity of the
scattered beam after hitting the nickel crystal using a movable detector, where a galvanometer is
attached. A galvanometer is a device which detects and measures small electric currents.

They found nothing significant in their experiment until their setup was broken. When air accidentally
entered the setup, the nickel was oxidized. To decrease the oxide in the pure nickel, extreme heat
was applied to the nickel and was used again to continue the experiment. After bombarding the
recrystallized nickel with a beam of electrons, they observed that the intensity of the scattered beam
was at the maximum at 50°. They noted that this peak in the intensity is where constructive
interferenceoccurs. Constructive interference is a process where two waves meet and add up.

Recrystallizing the nickel made small holes in the crystal which served as a diffraction grating.
A diffraction grating is an optical device made of glass or metal with a band of equidistant, parallel
lines. When a wave encounters a diffraction grating, it bends or diffracts. In the experiment of
Davisson and Germer, the beam of electrons that passed through several small holes was diffracted.
This diffraction of electrons shows one of the properties of a wave.

Waves that come from different openings or diffraction gratings, which are the small holes in the
recrystallized nickel, meet and form interference patterns. Interference is a process where two
waves meet. Waves can add up or interfere constructively. They can also
interfere destructively when they cancel each other.
Explore
It took scientists a long time to reconcile the dual nature of light, which led to the idea of the duality
of matter. To further see an evidence of this concept, try to observe the smoke coming from a
barbecue grill. From a distance, you will see a wave flow of smoke going up, but look closely into it,
what do you see? Does your observation tell something about the dual nature of matter?
What do you think?
Aside from diffraction, what are the other characteristics of a wave that differentiates it from a
particle?

Key Points
 In 1924, French physicist Louis de Broglie postulated that a particle, like
an electron, may also behave like a wave.
 The de Broglie wavelength shows that the wavelength of a particle is
related to Planck’s constant, and is inversely proportional to its momentum.
 Electron is one of the subatomic particles in an atom that has a wave-like
behavior. The experiments done by Clinton Davisson and Lester
Germer in 1927 showed that it can be bent or diffracted, a characteristic
behavior of waves.
Light: A Wave and a Particle, Physical Science
Dispersion, Scattering, Interference, and Diffraction of Light

Objective
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to differentiate dispersion,
scattering, interference, and diffraction of light.

Light is a wave and a particle at the same time; as a wave, it can be dispersed,
scattered, interfered, and diffracted.

Learn about it!

Dispersion

Dispersion is the separation of white light into its seven color components when
there is a refraction or bending of light. White light is composed of the different
color spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Each color
has its own wave frequency; different light frequencies bend at different amounts
when they pass through a prism. When white light passes through a prism, it will
refract two times making the separation of the colors noticeable.
Light scattering is the ability of particles to absorb light and scatter it in all
directions. Scattering of light components depends on the size of the particles or
scatterers; small particles scatter components of short wavelengths (high
frequency) while larger particles scatter longer wavelengths (low frequency).

Our atmosphere is composed of tiny particles that scatter the color components
of white light. The atmosphere has an abundance in nitrogen and oxygen
particles, which can scatter higher frequency components of white light. They
scatter violet the most, followed by blue, green, and so on. This selective
scattering is called the Rayleigh scattering. Our eyes are more sensitive to blue
frequencies of light, which is why we see the sky as blue.

Another example is the clouds. Clouds appear white because the water droplets
in the clouds are larger than the wavelength of light which scatter all the colors of
light equally. This type of scattering is known as Mie scattering.
Example
Diffraction effects are sometimes not helpful when viewing objects under the
microscope. When the wavelength of light has the same size as the object,
diffraction blurs the image. When the wavelength of light is larger than the size of
the object, there is no image seen.

Learn about it!

Interference

Interference is the result of the superposing of waves from different sources. If

you examine a shadow formed by the diffraction of light, you will see fringes on
the edge of the shadow. These fringes or the interference of light waves are the
result of the diffraction of light at different sides of the objects or obstacle which
causes the shadow to be fuzzy. When this property was observed in the visible
light, it was considered as a clear proof of the wave nature of light.

Constructive and Destructive Interference

Constructive interference happens when two identical parts of two waves meet
such as a crest of one wave meets the crest of another wave of the same
wavelength; this would result in a new wave with the same wavelength but twice
the amplitude.

Destructive interference happens when two opposite parts of two waves meet
for example a crest of one wave meets the trough of another wave which would
result in the cancellation of the two waves.
Explore
A rainbow is a phenomenon that involves the dispersion of light which results in a
visible spectrum. It usually occurs after a rain shower when there are huge
amount of water droplets suspended in the atmosphere. Is it possible to see two
rainbows at the same time?
Try it!
Try to see diffraction and interference by holding two pencil leads side by side
then shine a laser beam on the slits and project the image on a wall. Describe
what you see. Can you distinguish interference from diffraction?

What do you think?

How do dispersion, scattering, interference, and diffraction of light prove the
wave nature of light?

Key Points
 Dispersion is the separation of white light into its seven color components
when there is a refraction or bending of light. When white light passes
through a prism, it will refract two times, making the separation of the
colors noticeable.
 Light scattering is the ability of particles to absorb light and scatter it in all
directions.
 Diffraction is the bending of light when it encounters an obstacle or an
opening.
 Interference is the result of the superposing of waves from different
sources.
 Constructive interference happens when two identical parts of two
waves meet, such as when a crest of one wave meets the crest of another
wave of the same wavelength.
 Destructive interference happens when two opposite parts of two waves
meet, for example a crest of one wave meets the trough of another wave,
resulting in the cancellation of the two waves
Light: A Wave and a Particle, Physical Science
Light Phenomena I

Objectives
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to explain various light phenomena
such as:

 reflection on the concave and convex sides of a spoon;

 mirages;
 light from a red laser passes more easily through red cellophane than
green cellophane;
 clothing of certain colors appear different in artificial light and in sunlight;
 dark rainclouds; and
 red sunsets.

How do different light phenomena occur?

Learn about it!

Reflection on a Spoon

The two surfaces of a metal spoon are examples of a curved mirror. The front of
the spoon that curves inward represents a concave mirror while the back part
which bulges outward is the convex mirror. When you try to look into the front
part of the spoon, you will see a smaller and inverted version of yourself. On the
other hand, if you look at the back part of the spoon, you will see a smaller but
upright image of yourself. Why is this so?

Your image appears differently on both parts of the spoon because light reflects
differently upon hitting the concave and convex mirrors. When light rays hit the
surface of a concave mirror, the rays tend to meet or converge at the focal point
of the mirror creating a real and inverted image. When light rays strike a convex
mirror, the rays tend to scatter or diverge from the focal point. This means the
real rays will not meet and create the image but the imaginary ones will converge
and create the virtual and upright image.

Mirage

Have you ever experienced seeing a puddle of water where the sky is reflected
on an asphalt road a few meters in front of you while walking on a hot sunny
day? And then when you pass over that part where the water is supposed to be,
there was none? This is referred to as heat haze or a highway mirage.

A mirage is an optical phenomenon which creates a displaced image of an

object due to refraction of light. This happens because the air just above the
asphalt road has a higher temperature than the layer of air above it. The
differences in temperature cause differences in optical densities or refractive
indices of the different layers of air which bends or refracts light.

The image below is another example of a mirage. The sunlight that hits the tree
is reflected towards the observer's eyes. Some reflected light rays that do not
pass through layers of air with differences in temperature reach the observer's
eyes without bending (represented by the straight arrow coming from the tree to
the observer).

On the other hand, other reflected light rays will have to travel through the layers
of air with different temperatures. The differences in the temperature of the layers
of air bends or refracts the reflected light rays (represented by the curved broken
line coming from the tree to the observer). The refracted light rays produce a
displaced image of the tree or a mirage (represented by the broken straight line
coming from the observer's eyes to the ground).
Learn about it!
Filter

A filter can either be a colored glass or cellophane that absorbs certain

frequencies of visible light and transmits a particular color frequency that
matches the filter's natural frequency. Light transmission occurs when a
transparent object allows light to pass through it.

When white light hits a blue glass, the glass will absorb all the color frequencies
except for blue. When a red laser hits a red cellophane, the cellophane will
transmit red because their frequencies match. On the other hand, when a red
laser hits a green cellophane, the cellophane will absorb the red light instead of
transmitting it because their frequencies do not match.

Objects Under Sunlight and Artificial Light

The color of an object that we see depends on the reflected color frequency of
visible light that reaches our eyes. Different objects absorb and reflect different
color frequencies. For example, the petals of a yellow bell appears yellow
because the petals absorb all the color frequencies of white light except for
yellow which is reflected. The reflected yellow light reaches our eyes that makes
us see the color of the petals.
Objects reflect certain color frequencies based on the source that illuminates
them. Incandescent light bulbs emit lower frequency colors such as red, orange,
and yellow. Thus, the objects with these colors are enhanced under the
incandescent light. On the other hand, higher frequency colors, such as blue, are
emitted by fluorescent light bubs. This means that a red shirt will appear more
red under an incandescent light than in a fluorescent light. In the same way, a
blue shirt will appear more blue under a fluorescent light. We see the objects'
"true" colors when they are illuminated by sunlight or daylight.

Learn about it!

Dark Rain Clouds

From the previous lesson, you have learned that clouds appear white because
the water droplets in the clouds scatter all the color frequencies of white light
equally. On the other hand, rain clouds appear dark because they are too thick
that sunlight needs to pass through a lot of water droplets and be absorbed
before it can reach the observer’s eye.

Reddish Sunsets

Recall that the atmospheric particles scatter higher frequency light which makes
the sky appear blue. In a similar way, sunsets appear red because sunlight
travels a greater distance as it reaches the horizon and encounters more
atmospheric particles, scattering higher frequencies of light until only the red light
is left.
What do you think?
How do other light phenomena such as haloes, sundogs, primary rainbows,
secondary rainbows, and supernumerary bows occur?

Key Points
 The front of the spoon that curves inward represents a concave
mirror while the back part which bulges outward is the convex mirror.
 A mirage is an optical phenomenon which creates a displaced image of an
object due to refraction of light.
 A filter can either be a colored glass or cellophane that absorbs certain
frequencies of visible light and transmits a particular color frequency that
matches the filter's natural frequency.
 Light transmission occurs when a transparent object allows light to pass
through it.
 Different objects absorb and reflect different color frequencies.
 Objects reflect certain color frequencies based on the source that
illuminates them.
 Incandescent light bulbs emit lower frequency colors such as red, orange,
and yellow.
 Fluorescent light bulbs emit higher frequency colors like blue.
 Rain clouds appear dark because they are too thick that sunlight needs to
pass through a lot of water droplets and be absorbed before it can reach
the observer’s eye.
 Sunsets appear red because sunlight travels a greater distance as it
reaches the horizon and encounters more atmospheric particles, scattering
higher frequencies of light until only the red light is left.
Light: A Wave and a Particle, Physical Science
Light Phenomena II

Objective
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to explain various light phenomena
such as: haloes, sundogs, primary rainbows, secondary rainbows, and
supernumerary rainbows.

How do haloes, sundogs, primary rainbows, secondary rainbows, and

supernumerary bows occur?

Learn about it!

Haloes

Solar halo, which is also called gloriole, icebow or nimbus, is a light

phenomenon that happens when light shines through clouds that are composed
of ice crystals. Light refracts upon passing through the ice crystals and also
reflects upon hitting the crystal’s faces; these events cause the formation of the
bright ring around the Sun or Moon. Halo is usually bright white ring but may also
have colors due to the dispersion of light upon striking the ice crystals. Below is a
picture of a halo produced around the Sun.
Learn about it!
Rainbows

A rainbow is a light phenomenon formed from the combination of several light

properties like refraction, reflection, and dispersion. Rainbows are usually seen
after rainfall because they are formed when light strikes the scattered raindrops
in the atmosphere.

As shown in the image below, light is refracted upon hitting a raindrop that serves
as the prism. Due to the differences in the frequency of the colors of visible light,
they are refracted at different amounts and are dispersed. The dispersed colors
reflect upon hitting the other side of the raindrop and then refracted again as they
go out. The colors go out dispersed and reach the observer’s eyes.

What do you think?

Have you seen colors formed when gasoline spills on the ground? Can this be
considered as rainbow formation? Why or why not?
Key Points
 Haloes are light phenomena which are formed when light passes through
clouds and strikes the ice crystals in them.
 Haloes are bright ring which can be colored or just plain white light formed
around the sun or moon.Sundogs are spots of light formed on either side
of the sun or moon which is formed when light strikes the hexagonal ice
crystals whose faces are aligned horizontally.
 Due to the dispersion of light upon passing through the ice crystal,
sundogs can be seen with red colored inner edge since red is the least
refracted color.
 Rainbow is usually after a rain shower and with sun shining.
 Primary rainbow is formed when light hits a raindrop, refracted and single
reflection happens inside the raindrop.
 Secondary rainbows are formed when two inner reflections are done
instead of one; this causes the reversal of colors in a secondary rainbow in
comparison to a primary rainbow.
 Supernumerary rainbows are formed when light strikes small raindrops
with almost the same size. These are bands of green, pink and purple
colors found inside the primary rainbow.
Light: A Wave and a Particle, Physical Science
Electricity and Magnetism: Franklin, Coulomb, Oersted, Ampere, Biot-
Savart, Faraday, and Maxwell

Objective
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to explain the contributions of
Franklin, Coulomb, Oesrted, Ampere, Biot-Savart, Faraday, and Maxwell to our
understanding of electricity and magnetism.

Before, electricity and magnetism were thought to be two unrelated concepts. It

was until the discovery of several scientists who showed that electricity and
magnetism are inseparable ideas that greatly affect each other.

Who are these scientists and what were their ideas about electricity and
magnetism?

Learn about it!

Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was the first American who contributed in the field of
electricity. Some of his findings have essentially influenced our idea of electricity
now. According to Franklin, electricity is a fluid that passes from point A to B.
When the fluid moves from A to B, there would be less fluid in A than in B; he
used the word negative, meaning less fluid and positive, meaning more fluid.
Today, we know the moving fluid as the electrons. Franklin was also the first to
state the concept of conservation of electric charge which states that the fluid
cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be collected.

Franklin conducted an experiment to prove that lighting was an electrical

phenomena. He used a kite with a key attached to it, to attract lightning and
indeed it did. This lead him to the idea and invention of what is known as
lightning rod. A pointed metal placed on top of a building whose end is connected
to the ground. The lightning rod serves as a pathway for the lightning to the
ground instead of damaging a house or building.

Charles-Augustin de Coulomb

Charles-Augustin de Coulomb was a French physicist known in formulating an

equation about the force between two electric charges. According to his law
known as Coulomb’s law, the force between electric charges is directly
proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the
square of the distance between them. Aside from his law, Coulomb has invented
several machines like the Torsion balance which was used to measure the
density of earth but was most effectively used to measure weak forces.

Learn about it!

Han Christian Oersted

Han Christian Oersted was a Physics teacher who accidentally discovered the
connection between electricity and magnetism. When he was lecturing about
electric circuit to his class, a compass was present on his table and he noticed
the deflection of the compass needle when he turned the switch of the circuit on
and off. He knew that the compass needle is affected by the presence of a
magnetic field provided by a magnet, but there was no magnet around. This was
the beginning of electromagnetism. Oersted did further investigation and found
out that a current-carrying wire produces a circular magnetic field surrounding the
wire and us the electric field ceases, the magnetic field ceases as well.
Andre-Marie Ampere

Andre-Marie Ampere was a French physicist inspired by the discovery of

Oersted. After knowing that electricity and magnetism are related, Ampere
wanted to investigate the exact relationship of the two. He performed several
experiments that showed two current-carrying wires that are parallel to each
other and whose current are in the same direction attract one another and the
two repel whenever the direction of the current in each is opposite. These results
lead him to formulate a law that mathematically describes the magnetic force
between two current-carrying wires known as Ampere’s law.

Ampere did several inventions that helped improve the field of electromagnetism.
One example would be the first type of what we now called galvanometer that
detects the presence of an electric current. The unit for electric current was given
the name ampere in honor of him.

Learn about it!

Jean Baptiste Biot and Felix Savart

Jean Baptiste Biot and Felix Savart were French scientists who formulated an
equation named after them which tells about fundamental quantitative
relationship that exists between electric current and magnetic field. It was proven
that a current-carrying wire produces its own magnetic field. Biot-Savart law tells
about the value of the magnetic field produce by a certain source, that this value
is affected by amount of current in a wire and the length of the wire. The amount
of magnetic field produced is also affected by the orientation of the magnetic field
and electric field, if the two are 90 degrees with respect to each other, magnetic
field produced will be of highest value and decreases as the angle between the
two decreases as well and yields zero when the two lies parallel to one another.

Michael Faraday

Michael Faraday was most famous for his discovery of electromagnetic induction
which is the production of electricity from changing magnetic field. Studying the
works of Oersted and Ampere, Faraday was able to show that a changing
magnetic field produces electric field. His discoveries lead to many inventions
that greatly changed the way of life of people. He was able to invent the first of all
the wonderful machines used to generate electricity like electric motor, electric
transformer, electric generator and dynamo. He also has a law known as
Faraday’s law of induction which states that the amount of electricity produced is
equal to the rate of change in the magnetic flux moving in the surface of a wire
loop.

James Clerk Maxwell

James Maxwell was a Scottish physicist best known for his four equations that
tells about how electric and magnetic interacts, propagates and are affected by
other materials. He used Faraday’s and Ampere’s findings and combined them to
create four equations that mathematically describe the behaviour of electricity
and magnetism being considered as inseparable.

The four equations include Gauss’ law, Gauss’ Magnetism Law, Faraday’s Law,
and Ampere’s Law.

 Gauss’ law tells how electric fields acts around electric charges.
 Gauss’ magnetism law states that the divergence of the magnetic flux
density is equal to zero.
 Faraday’s law states that a changing magnetic field produces an electric
field
 Ampere’s law states that a changing electric field produces magnetic field
and a changing magnetic field yields an electric field.

The four laws of Maxwell have revolutionized the world of Physics after Newton.

Explore!
Make a time line that will show the progress of the discoveries of the given
physicists in electricity and magnetism. Try to determine overlaps on dates and
see the importance of searching and using proven facts to pursue new
discoveries.

What do you think?

If all these discoveries and findings were not found and discovered what do you
think will our current life be?
Key Points
 Benjamin Franklin discovered that lightning was electrical in nature and
that electricity involves a movement of what he called fluid in which
presence of greater fluid.
 Charles-Augustin de Coulomb was a French physicist known in
formulating an equation about the force between two electric charges.
 Han Christian Oersted was a Physics teacher who accidentally
discovered the connection between electricity and magnetism.
 Andre-Marie Ampere was a French physicist who investigated the
relationship of electricity and magnetism.
 Jean Baptiste Biot and Felix Savart were French scientists who
formulated an equation named after them which tells about fundamental
quantitative relationship that exists between electric current and magnetic
field.
 Michael Faraday was most famous for his discovery of electromagnetic
induction which is the production of electricity from changing magnetic
field.
 James Maxwell was a Scottish physicist known for his four equations
about how electric and magnetic interacts, propagates, and are affected by
other materials.
Light: A Wave and a Particle, Physical Science
How Hertz Produced Radio Pulses

Objective
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to describe how Hertz produced
radio pulses.

Recall that visible light is only one of the seven electromagnetic (EM) waves.
Another type of EM wave is the radio wave which is widely used for
communication and transmission of information regardless the distance of the
sender and receiver. Radio waves are naturally created by astronomical bodies
or lightning but can also be created artificially to serve its purpose.

When and how was the first man-made radio wave created and who first
generated it?
Learn about it!
Hertz' First Transmission of Radio Waves

The poles of the spark gap are made up of two 2-cm radius spheres. The picture below depicts the
image of Hertz’ set-up.
Try it!
Research about other experiments that tried to prove Maxwell's theory.

What do you think?

What do you think would have happened to our communication system if Hertz
was not successful in his experiment?

Key Points
 Maxwell’s theory states that EM waves are produced by oscillating
electric and magnetic field and moves at the speed of light.
 Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was the first scientist to prove Maxwell’s
hypothesis by conducting an experiment showing the first transmission and
reception of radio waves.
 Hertz' experiment proved that EM waves travel at the speed of light and is
created by changing electric and magnetic fields.