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Why do scientists believe that light is made of streams of particles?

Sample Response: Scientists believe that light is made of streams of particles because only the presence of photons can explain phenomena observed during experiments on the photoelectric effect. These observations include only some frequencies of light causing the ejection of electrons, no time gap existing between light striking a metal and electrons being ejected, and intensity having no effect on the kinetic energy of the ejected electrons.

User CLFlaVA
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Scientists believe that light is made of streams of particles, called photons, because of their observed behavior. In certain experiments, such as the photoelectric effect, it was found that light behaves more like a particle than a wave. For example, light can knock electrons out of atoms, which would require a particle-like behavior. Additionally, the energy of each photon is directly proportional to its frequency, which is a characteristic of particles. The behavior of light in other experiments, such as the double-slit experiment, can also be explained by the wave-like behavior of photons. Therefore, scientists have concluded that light has both particle and wave-like properties, known as wave-particle duality.

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~~~Harsha~~~

User Guillem Gelabert
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