MadSci Network: Physics |
Although the duality of light (that light behaves both like a wave and like a particle) seems to be logically inconsistent, you must remember that it is an experimentally established fact. Again and again in labs all over the world it has been established that if you devise a test to determine whether light behaves as a wave, it is found that it behaves as a wave. If you test whether it behaves as a particle, it is found to behave like a particle. Thought experiments are never enough, the only test for any hypothesis is experiment. To truly formulate your hypothesis that light is a particle, you'll also need to invent a new theory of electromagnetism since the old theory is entirely consistent with our current theory of light.