Theories of light

In the seventeenth century two rival theories of the nature of light were proposed, the wave theory and the
corpuscular theory.
The Dutch astronomer Huygens (1629-1695) proposed a wave theory of light. He believed that light was a
longitudinal wave, and that this wave was propagated through a material called the 'aether'. Since light can
pass through a vacuum and travels very fast Huygens had to propose some rather strange properties for the
aether: for example; it must fill all space and be weightless and invisible. For this reason scientists were
sceptical of his theory.
In 1690 Newton proposed the corpuscular theory of light. He believed that light was shot out from a source
in small particles, and this view was accepted for over a hundred years.
The quantum theory put forward by Max Planck in 1900 combined the wave theory and the particle theory,
and showed that light can sometimes behave like a particle and sometimes like a wave. You can find a much
fuller consideration of this in the section on the quantum theory.

Classical and modern theories of light

It is interesting to compare the two classical theories of light and see which phenomena can
be explained by each theory. The following table does this.
Wave theory

Corpuscular theory

Reflection

Reflection

Refraction

Photoelectric effect

Diffraction
Interference

Notice that neither theory can account for polarisation, since for polarisation to occur the
waves must be transverse in nature.
Modem theories
Twentieth-century ideas have led us to believe that light is:
(a) a transverse electromagnetic wave with a small wavelength, and
(b) emitted in quanta or packets of radiation of about 10 -8 s duration with abrupt phase
changes between successive pulses.

Top

Different Wavelengths of Light Interact Differently With Matter

First, there is the electromagnetic spectrum. You can make an electromagnetic wave of all different
wavelengths from larger than 1 meter (radio waves) to less than 10 picometers (gamma rays but they are
still waves). Here is the common classification of the electromagnetic spectrum going from large
wavelengths to small.

Radio

Microwaves

Infrared

Visible light

Ultraviolet

X-rays (but they are waves)

Gamma rays

All of these are electromagnetic waves and they all travel at the same speed (the speed of light). However,
they have different interactions with matter. If you are inside, your mobile phone can still get data from a
cell tower since these radio waves pass through most walls. Can you see through the walls? No. Visible light
does not pass through most walls. X-rays mostly go through your skin, but you cant see (with visible light)
through skin that would just be weird.
Technically the interaction with light and matter depends on the frequency of light but since frequency and
wavelength are related, we can just talk about the wavelength.

You See Things When Light Enters Your Eye

Ok, this isnt just about light but also how humans work.
There are two ways that light could enter your eye. First, there could be a light source (like a light bulb) that
create light. This light then travels into your eye and BOOM your brain interprets this signal as light. The
other way (more common) is to see things by reflected light. Suppose you are looking at a pencil. The light
(from somewhere) reflects off the pencil and then into your eye.

The human is smiling. You

would smile too if you could see that pencil.

But what happens if there is no light that enters your eye? What if you are in a place with absolutely no
source of light? In that case, you perceive the color black. Actually, this can be a fun question. Ask someone
this:
Have you ever been somewhere with absolutely no light? (most people havent) If you are in a room that that
is completely dark, what would you see? What happens after you wait a long, long time?
One of the very common answers is that you will see everything as black at first. These humans will also
say that after some time your eyes will adjust and then you WILL see something. The correct answer is that
you will just see black forever. If there is no light entering your eye then you just see black. The common
idea is based on a common experience. Normally if you are in a dark room your eyes DO indeed adjust.
However, this only works in rooms with a little bit of light and there is almost always at least a little bit of
light.

All Objects Produce Light

Maybe I should say that all objects create electromagnetic waves they do. Lets look at an example from
your house. Go in your kitchen and turn the stove on high (assuming you have an electric stove). Now just
watch it as it gets hotter (but dont touch it).

Eventually, the stove element will get so hot it will glow a low reddish color (red hot). But actually, the
element was producing light the whole time. Its just that at lower temperatures the electromagnetic light is
in a wavelength that you cant see its in the infrared spectrum.
Most things that you see around you emit EM (electromagnetic) radiation in the infrared spectrum so you
cant see it. Well, you actually can indirectly see it if you have an awesome infrared camera (for your
phone). These thermal cameras dectect the infrared light and create a false-color image that humans can see.
For the most part, different colors in the IR image correspond to different temperatures of the objects.
Here is an example. This is my dog on a smooth floor. Notice that his eyes and nose are warmer than other
parts of his body. Also notice that you can see his infrared reflection on the floor.

IR image of my dog using the Therm-App

camera.

Rhett Allain

But does this work for objects hotter than your stove element? Yes. As an object gets even hotter it creates
light with shorter and shorter wavelengths. Eventually the object would look white as more of the shorter
wavelength light is produced. Yes, it could even create ultraviolet light at even higher temperatures.

Ok, thats the five things that everyone should know about light.
Visible Light

Visible light is one way energy uses to get around. Light waves are the result of vibrations of electric and
magnetic fields, and are thus a form of electromagnetic (EM) radiation. Visible light is just one of many
types of EM radiation, and occupies a very small range of the overall electromagnetic spectrum. We can,
however, directly sense light with our own eyes, thus elevating the role of this narrow window in the EM
spectrum because of its significance to us.
Light waves have wavelengths between about 400 and 700 nanometers (4,000 and 7,000 ). Our eyes
perceive different wavelengths of light as the rainbow hues of colors. Red light has relatively long waves,
around 700 nm (10-9 meters) long. Blue and purple light have short waves, around 400 nm. Shorter waves
vibrate at higher frequencies and have higher energies. Red light has a frequency around 430 terahertz, while
blue's fequency is closer to 750 terahertz. Red photons carry about 1.8 electron volts (eV) of energy, while
each blue photon transmits about 3.1 eV.
Visible light's neighbors on the EM spectrum are infrared radiation on the one side and ultraviolet radiation
on the other. Infrared radiaiton has longer wavelength waves than red light, and thus oscillates at a lower
frequency and carries less energy. Ultraviolet radiation has waves with shorter wavelengths than do blue or
violet light, and thus oscillates more rapidly and carries more energy per photon than visible light does.
Light travels at the incredible speed of 299,792.458 kilometers per second (about 186,282.4 miles per
second). At this amazing speed, light could circle Earth more than seven times in one second! The lowercase
letter "c" is often used to represent the speed of light in equations, such as Einstein's famous relation
between energy and matter: "E = mc2". All forms of electromagnetic waves, including X-rays and radio
waves and all other frequencies across the EM spectrum, also travel at the speed of light. Light travels most
rapidly in a vacuum, and moves slightly more slowly in materials like water or glass.

More than 150 years ago, inventors began working on a bright idea that would have a dramatic impact on
how we use energy in our homes and offices. This invention changed the way we design buildings, increased
the length of the average workday and jumpstarted new businesses. It also led to new energy breakthroughs
-- from power plants and electric transmission lines to home appliances and electric motors.
Like all great inventions, the light bulb cant be credited to one inventor. It was a series of small
improvements on the ideas of previous inventors that have led to the light bulbs we use in our homes today.
Incandescent Bulbs Light the Way

Long before Thomas Edison patented -- first in 1879 and then a year later in 1880 -- and began
commercializing his incandescent light bulb, British inventors were demonstrating that electric light was
possible with the arc lamp. In 1835, the first constant electric light was demonstrated, and for the next 40
years, scientists around the world worked on the incandescent lamp, tinkering with the filament (the part of
the bulb that produces light when heated by an electrical current) and the bulbs atmosphere (whether air is
vacuumed out of the bulb or it is filled with an inert gas to prevent the filament from oxidizing and burning
out). These early bulbs had extremely short lifespans, were too expensive to produce or used too much
energy.

When Edison and his researchers at Menlo Park came onto the lighting scene, they focused on improving the
filament -- first testing carbon, then platinum, before finally returning to a carbon filament. By October
1879, Edisons team had produced a light bulb with a carbonized filament of uncoated cotton thread that
could last for 14.5 hours. They continued to experiment with the filament until settling on one made from
bamboo that gave Edisons lamps a lifetime of up to 1,200 hours -- this filament became the standard for the
Edison bulb for the next 10 years. Edison also made other improvements to the light bulb, including creating
a better vacuum pump to fully remove the air from the bulb and developing the Edison screw (what is now
the standard socket fittings for light bulbs).
(Historical footnote: One cant talk about the history of the light bulb without mentioning William Sawyer
and Albon Man, who received a U.S. patent for the incandescent lamp, and Joseph Swan, who patented his
light bulb in England. There was debate on whether Edisons light bulb patents infringed on these other
inventors patents. Eventually Edisons U.S. lighting company merged with the Thomson-Houston Electric
Company -- the company making incandescent bulbs under the Sawyer-Man patent -- to form General
Electric, and Edisons English lighting company merged with Joseph Swans company to form Ediswan in
England.)
What makes Edisons contribution to electric lighting so extraordinary is that he didnt stop with improving
the bulb -- he developed a whole suite of inventions that made the use of light bulbs practical. Edison
modeled his lighting technology on the existing gas lighting system. In 1882 with the Holborn Viaduct in
London, he demonstrated that electricity could be distributed from a centrally located generator through a
series of wires and tubes (also called conduits). Simultaneously, he focused on improving the generation of
electricity, developing the first commercial power utility called the Pearl Street Station in lower Manhattan.
And to track how much electricity each customer was using, Edison developed the first electric meter.
While Edison was working on the whole lighting system, other inventors were continuing to make small
advances, improving the filament manufacturing process and the efficiency of the bulb. The next big change
in the incandescent bulb came with the invention of the tungsten filament by European inventors in 1904.
These new tungsten filament bulbs lasted longer and had a brighter light compared to the carbon filament
bulbs. In 1913, Irving Langmuir figured out that placing an inert gas like nitrogen inside the bulb doubled its
efficiency. Scientists continued to make improvements over the next 40 years that reduced the cost and
increased the efficiency of the incandescent bulb. But by the 1950s, researchers still had only figured out
how to convert about 10 percent of the energy the incandescent bulb used into light and began to focus their
energy on other lighting solutions.
Energy Shortages Lead to Fluorescent Breakthroughs

In the 19th century, two Germans -- glassblower Heinrich Geissler and physician Julius Plcker -discovered that they could produce light by removing almost all of the air from a long glass tube and passing
an electrical current through it, an invention that became known as the Geissler tube. A type of discharge
lamp, these lights didnt gain popularity until the early 20th century when researchers began looking for a
way to improve lighting efficiency. Discharge lamps became the basis of many lighting technologies,
including neon lights, low-pressure sodium lamps (the type used in outdoor lighting such as streetlamps) and
fluorescent lights.
Both Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla experimented with fluorescent lamps in the 1890s, but neither ever
commercially produced them. Instead, it was Peter Cooper Hewitts breakthrough in the early 1900s that
became one of the precursors to the fluorescent lamp. Hewitt created a blue-green light by passing an
electric current through mercury vapor and incorporating a ballast (a device connected to the light bulb that

regulates the flow of current through the tube). While the Cooper Hewitt lamps were more efficient than
incandescent bulbs, they had few suitable uses because of the color of the light.
By the late 1920s and early 1930s, European researchers were doing experiments with neon tubes coated
with phosphors (a material that absorbs ultraviolet light and converts the invisible light into useful white
light). These findings sparked fluorescent lamp research programs in the U.S., and by the mid and late
1930s, American lighting companies were demonstrating fluorescent lights to the U.S. Navy and at the 1939
New York Worlds Fair. These lights lasted longer and were about three times more efficient than
incandescent bulbs. The need for energy-efficient lighting American war plants led to the rapid adoption of
fluorescents, and by 1951, more light in the U.S. was being produced by linear fluorescent lamps.
It was another energy shortage -- the 1973 oil crisis -- that caused lighting engineers to develop a fluorescent
bulb that could be used in residential applications. In 1974, researchers at Sylvania started investigating how
they could miniaturize the ballast and tuck it into the lamp. While they developed a patent for their bulb,
they couldnt find a way to produce it feasibly. Two years later in 1976, Edward Hammer at General Electric
figured out how to bend the fluorescent tube into a spiral shape, creating the first compact fluorescent light
(CFL). Like Sylvania, General Electric shelved this design because the new machinery needed to massproduce these lights was too expensive.
Early CFLs hit the market in the mid-1980s at retail prices of $25-35, but prices could vary widely by region
because of the different promotions carried out by utility companies. Consumers pointed to the high price as
their number one obstacle in purchasing CFLs. There were other problems -- many CFLs of 1990 were big
and bulky, they didnt fit well into fixtures, and they had low light output and inconsistent performance.
Since the 1990s, improvements in CFL performance, price, efficiency (they use about 75 percent less energy
than incandescents) and lifetime (they last about 10 times longer) have made them a viable option for both
renters and homeowners. Nearly 30 years after CFLs were first introduced on the market, an ENERGY
STAR CFL costs as little as $1.74 per bulb when purchased in a four-pack.
LEDs: The Future is Here

One of the fastest developing lighting technologies today is the light-emitting diode (or LED). A type of
solid-state lighting, LEDs use a semiconductor to convert electricity into light, are often small in area (less
than 1 square millimeter) and emit light in a specific direction, reducing the need for reflectors and diffusers
that can trap light.
They are also the most efficient lights on the market. Also called luminous efficacy, a light bulbs efficiency
is a measure of emitted light (lumens) divided by power it draws (watts). A bulb that is 100 percent efficient
at converting energy into light would have an efficacy of 683 lm/W. To put this in context, a 60- to 100-watt
incandescent bulb has an efficacy of 15 lm/W, an equivalent CFL has an efficacy of 73 lm/W, and current
LED-based replacement bulbs on the market range from 70-120 lm/W with an average efficacy of 85 lm/W.
In 1962 while working for General Electric, Nick Holonyak, Jr., invented the first visible-spectrum LED in
the form of red diodes. Pale yellow and green diodes were invented next. As companies continued to
improve red diodes and their manufacturing, they began appearing as indicator lights and calculator displays
in the 1970s. The invention of the blue diode in the 1990s quickly led to the discovery of white LEDs -researchers simply coated the blue diodes with a phosphor to make it appear white. Shortly thereafter,
researchers demonstrated white light using red, green and blue LEDs. These breakthroughs led to LEDs
being used in a variety of applications including traffic lights, flashlights and TVs.

To make LEDs an option for general lighting, researchers next had to focus on improving the efficiency of
LEDs -- which in the beginning were no more efficient than incandescent bulbs. In 2000, the Energy
Department partnered with private industry to push white LED technology forward by creating a highefficiency device that packaged LEDs together.
When the Department announced the L Prize competition in 2008 (a competition designed to spur the
development of ultra-efficient solid-state lighting products to replace common lighting technologies), there
were just a few LED bulbs on the market that could serve as a replacement for incandescents, and most were
25-40 watt equivalents. In late 2009, Philips Lighting North America entered its LED bulb in the L Prize 60watt replacement category. (Why focus on this type of bulb? In 2010, the Department estimated there were
approximately 971 million 60-watt incandescent bulbs in use.) After a rigorous evaluation process, including
testing by independent laboratories and field assessments, the Energy Department announced that Philips
Lighting North America won the first L Prize in 2011. The ability to hit the tough L Prize performance
targets showed it could be done and drove others in the market to strive higher.
Lighting companies continued to make improvements to both the quality of light and the energy efficiency
of LEDs while cutting their costs. Since 2008, the cost of LED bulbs has fallen more than 85 percent, and
most recently, a number of retailers announced that they will sell LEDs at $10 or less. Todays LED bulbs
are also six to seven times more energy efficient than conventional incandescent lights, cut energy use by
more than 80 percent and can last more than 25 times longer. Taken together, these advancements have led
to rapid deployment in the past of couple years in both commercial and residential applications. In 2012
alone, more than 49 million LEDs were installed in the U.S. -- saving about $675 million in annual energy
costs -- and as prices continue to drop, LEDs are expected to become a common feature in homes across the
country.
Incandescents and existing lighting fixtures use designs that date back to Edisons days. Replacing the old
bulbs with LEDs is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to saving energy on lighting. LED lighting
systems designed to take full advantage of LEDs strengths have even greater energy-savings potential than
forcing LEDs into 19th century fixtures.
Its hard to tell where lighting technology will go in the future, but one thing is clear: it wont be your
grandfathers light bulb.
To learn how the Energy Department is working to accelerate the efficiency and quality of LEDs, visit the
Solid-State Lighting Programs website.
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Quotes
I have satisfied myself that the [cosmic] rays are not generated by the formation of new matter in space, a
process which would be like water running up a hill. Nor do they come to any appreciable amount from the
stars. According to my investigations the sun emits a radiation of such penetrative power that it is virtually
impossible to absorb it in lead or other substances. ... This ray, which I call the primary solar ray, gives rise
to a secondary radiation by impact against the cosmic dust scattered through space. It is the secondary
radiation which now is commonly called the cosmic ray, and comes, of course, equally from all directions in
space. [The article continues: The phenomena of radioactivity are not the result of forces within the
radioactive substances but are caused by this ray emitted by the sun. If radium could be screened effectively
against this ray it would cease to be radioactive, he said.]