Dual Nature Of Light Lab Report

Dual Wave-Particle Nature Light

Describe what is meant by the dual wave-particle nature of light

The dual nature of light refers to the fact that light can act as both a wave and a particle

In his experiment, Young shone light between two parallel slits, causing the light waves to interfere with each other and form a patter of dark and light bands. If light was primarily a particle, it would have formed two parallel lines.

In 1905, Einstein proved that light could behave as a particle by showing that a beam of light could eject electrons from metal. This suggested that light consisted of photons that could eject electrons of similar frequency.

What evidence supports light traveling as a wave?

Young's experiment^^

What evidence supports light

When an atom is heated the electrons jump to higher energy levels. Eventually they drop back down one or two or three levels emitting light energy. Each jump has a distinct package of energy and hence wavelength and thus produces a single line of the spectrum. A sodium street light is orange because it has 2 very strong orange lines as well as some fainter ones.

How did the line emission spectrum lead to the Bohr Model of the Hydrogen Atom? What is the Bohr model of the hydrogen atom?

The electron in a hydrogen atom travels around the nucleus in a circular orbit. The energy of the electron in an orbit is proportional to its distance from the nucleus. The further the electron is from the nucleus, the more energy it has. Only a limited number of orbits with certain energies are allowed. In other words, the orbits are quantized. The only orbits that are allowed are those for which the angular momentum of the electron is an integral multiple of Planck's constant divided by 2p. Light is absorbed when an electron jumps to a higher energy orbit and emitted when an electron falls into a lower energy orbit. The energy of the light emitted or absorbed is exactly equal to the difference between the energies of the