Principle 8.8.1. Huygen’s Principle.
Every point along a wave front can be considered a source of a waves emanating from that point in the direction of light propagation.
Section 8.8 Wave Model for Light
Up to this point, you have been using the ray model for light, which assumes that light travels in straight lines, somewhat like an ordinary particle of matter. It turns out that light can be a little more complicated than that.
Light can also be described as a wave! The wave-particle duality of light is extremely useful, especially when the wavelength of light is comparable to the size of any mechanism or object the light is interacting with. In these cases, you will use the wave nature of light to explain what you are seeing.
Exercises Wave Model Activities
1. Wave Interference.
Spend some time playing with the
light interference simulation. Click on the "Interference" tab, and on the right hand side, choose the laser pointer option.Make some observations as you are playing with the simulation. What happens if you separate the lasers as far as possible? What happens if you bring them as close together as possible? What happens when you change the frequency?
References References
[1]
The Original Double Slit Experiment by Veritasium.
