Question of The Week - 10/3/2024

Welcome to this week’s question!🚀

1. Rule #1: Embrace the challenge - no Googling allowed! Put on your thinking cap! You’re allowed to guess.💭🌠

2. Rule #2: Discuss with friends, family, or pets for more fun! 🐠🤔🪐

3. The answer will be revealed next Saturday 🎉🌟

4. Have questions? Reach out anytime for an enjoyable cosmic quest! 🌌

5. Let the fun cosmic journey begin! 🚀✨

Which Scientist was the first to advocate that light is a particle?

A) Albert Einstein

B) Max Planck

C) James Maxwell

D) Isaac Newton

Answer Located Below!

Answer: D
Around the beginning of the 18th century, Isaac Newton proposed that light was made up of physical units called light corpuscles, which travel at a finite speed. He also states that light can’t be a wave because if it were a wave, light should be able to travel through barriers, like how sound travels across walls when playing loud music. Another piece of evidence he provided was that he thought that light couldn’t diffract. Diffraction is when a wave spreads out and passes through a gap.

However, in the famous double-slit experiment conducted by Thomas Young in 1801, we find out that light can indeed diffract, showing that light is also a wave. This experiment helped reveal light's more sophisticated quantum characteristics, such as wave-particle duality.

Diffraction occurs when a wave passes through a gap. The waves are spread out on the right side, creating a diffraction pattern.

Source: Byju: Single Slit Diffraction