Is light a particle or a wave? - Colm Kelleher

Can we accurately describe light as exclusively a wave or just a particle? Are the two mutually exclusive? In this third part of his series on light and color, Colm Kelleher discusses wave-particle duality and its relationship to how we see light and, therefore, color.

Lesson by Colm Kelleher, animation by Nelson Diaz.

[unemployed]

Me : What is light a particle or a wave?


TED : YES

[StuffByDavid]

I'm glad they shed some light on this subject

[TenshinhanIsKing]

“I dunno lol maybe?” - Quantum physicist

[supaflylob]

Classic TED
Is light a particle or a wave?
Thats a good question

**queue outro music**

[bilibili]

that plaster on Newton's head is a brilliant detail!

[TEDEd]

That's the guy! He's also done a few others on the nuances of color and light.

[hd_cat]

The ending of the video says: "sometimes light behaves like a particle and other times it behaves like a wave", but that's not really an accurate definition of light.
 Light are packets of photons, so its energy is discrete. However, these photons are described by a wave function. 
Then, it's not correct to say that light sometimes behaves like a particle and sometimes like a wave, but it take properties of both concepts and its behavior is defined by these properties.

[ms.z]

ابن الهيثم ❤ الله يرحمه كان عالم كبير .. ان شاء الله يجي اليوم الي يطلع من بلداننا علماء بشطارته واكثر يرفعون الأمة

[that]

You explain complex topics like this in such a fun and interesting manner which makes me want to love science and explore it 😀

[tomisoetan]

The animation on this is gorgeous! Like all ted Ed videos, about 50% of my attention is being awe struck by the animation

[anuravsaini]

Nature-What do you want to become light, particles or wave?
Light -Yes

[isaiahbaggett]

the bandage on Newton's head was a nice touch - anybody else catch that?

[tendies]

So we don't know what the fuck it is

[HosamSultan]

Colm Kelleher has a lot of lessons here... and they are the best always :)
Thanks to him and to the creative animators...

[davidschapiro]

Light isn't sometimes that sometimes this. it's both! Wave and Particle, acting in Harmony

[VAISHALISHARMA]

Sometimes it behaves like a particle and other times it behaves like a wave .
But it isn't exactly like either !
Video starts and ends on the same entangled question 👏

[freddiebates]

Thank you Colm. I've struggled with this concept for quite some time. Your explanation has helped to open the door to Quantum Physics for me.

[kiprask]

Gassendi said: "Light is a particle"
Hooke said: "Light is wave"
Planck said: "Why not both"

[parulaggarwal]

1:53 I guess that APPLE fell on newton's forehead....

[rubipanjiyar]

Just wow. The way you explain is excellent.