Свет долгое время оставался одним из главных objects of study. Many scientists sought to know its nature, but it was difficult to do because of limited opportunities. The very first theory, trying to explain the nature of light, was the wave theory. For a long time it was considered correct and correct, and there were no prerequisites for the formation of a corpuscular-wave dualism. At that time in physics there was an opinion that light by its nature is a wave, and atoms and other small particles possessed only corpuscular properties.
The theory began to crumble, because it failedexplain the structure of the atom. Rutherford, as a result of his experiments, made the assumption that the nucleus of the atom is in the center, the bulk is concentrated there, and the electrons are distributed throughout the volume, freely filling the space. But the theory was not confirmed, because according to calculations, such a system could not be stable.
Preconditions for the formation of a new theory
Later, the phenomenon of the photoelectric effect was discovered, whichwent beyond the framework of classical physics, which dominated at that time. Subsequently, it was the photoelectric effect that helped shape the wave-particle dualism, because this led to the need for the creation of quantum physics. Its peculiarity was that particles received properties that would not have been possible if they were considered in the light of the principles of classical physics. The corpuscular-wave dualism became one of the first theories studied in the new section of physics.
The essence of the photoelectric effect was that ordinarysubstances under the action of short-wave radiation emit fast electrons. The main disagreement with classical physics was the fact that the energy of the emitted fast electrons did not depend on the radiation intensity. The values had only the properties of the substance itself, as well as the frequency of the radiation. At that time, it was not possible to explain the mechanisms for the release of photoelectrons from the available data.
The wave theory seemed slender andindisputable. According to her, the radiation energy was uniformly distributed in the light wave. When it hits an electron, it gives it a certain amount of energy, respectively, according to this theory, the higher the intensity, the greater the energy. However, in fact everything turned out a little differently.
Development of the idea of dualism
Albert Einstein began to express ideas aboutdiscrete nature of light. Quantum field theory and the concept of quantum fields, which helped to form a corpuscular-wave dualism, also began to develop.
The bottom line is that the light canto act electromagnetic waves, therefore, it has the physical properties of the particle flux-photons. However, in such phenomena as diffraction and interference, light demonstrates the explicit properties of the wave. A number of experiments have been carried out, which prove the duality of the structure of light. It was on their basis that a corpuscular-wave dualism of light was constructed, i.e. photon exhibits corpuscular properties, but in a number of experiments it had a clear manifestation of wave properties.
Нужно понимать, что подобные идеи на данный the moment is only of historical interest. The corpuscular-wave dualism of the properties of matter was formed as a theory at a time when the study of similar properties was just beginning, at the same time, new sections of physics were actually founded. Such a theory was an attempt to explain new phenomena in the language of classical physics.
In fact, from the point of view of quantum physicssuch objects are not particles, at least in the classical sense. They acquire certain properties only when approaching. However, the theory of dualism is still used to explain certain principles of the nature of light.
