Light theory is At the time, some of the experiments conducted on light theory, both the wave theory and particle theory, had some unexplained phenomenon, Newton could not explain the phenomenon of light interference, this forced Newton's particle theory in favour of the wave theory. This difficulty was due to the unexplained phenomenon of light Polarisation - scientists were familiar with the fact that wave motion was parallel to the direction of wave travel, NOT perpendicular to the to the direction of wave travel, as light does.
Light Wave Theory
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Light can exhibit both a wave theory, and a particle theory at the same time. Much of the time, light behaves like a wave. Light waves are also called electromagnetic waves because they are made up of both electric (E) and magnetic (H) fields. Electromagnetic fields oscillate perpendicular to the direction of wave travel, and perpendicular to each other. Light waves are known as transverse waves as they oscillate in the direction traverse to the direction of wave travel.
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speed of light |
The speed of light in a vacuum is a universal constant, about 300,000 km/s or 186,000 miles per second. The exact speed of light is: 299,792.458 km/s
It takes approximately 8.3 min for light from the sun the reach the earth ( 150,000,000 / 300,000 / 60 = 8.3 ) Taking the distance of the sun from Earth into account, which is 150,000,000 km, and the fact that light travels at 300,000 km/s, it shows in someway how fast light actually travels |