Question

How many theories of light are there?

Answer 1

Light can be explained in two ways. The wave theory and the corpuscular theory were suggested in the seventeenth century as opposing views of light's nature.

Wave theory of light:

1. Huygens suggested that light has a wave character and that it travels in a medium called ether as a longitudinal wave.
2. Huygen's hypothesis, however, was unable to account for light propagation in a rectilinear path.
3. Reflection and refraction, as well as the principles that govern them, are explained using Huygens' wave theory.

Corpuscular theory:

1. Photons are the particles that make up light, according to Newton.
2. He also argued that different colored particles must have varying diameters.
3. The photoelectric effect of light is particle-like.

Maxwell's electromagnetic wave theory:

1. When a magnetic field shifts, an electric field shifts, a magnetic field shifts, and so on indefinitely, this is when an electromagnetic wave exists.

Planck's quantum theory:

1. The quantum theory of light made clear that light is made up of tiny energy packets called photons that exhibit wave-like characteristics.

Therefore four theories of light

1. Wave theory of light
2. Corpuscular theory
3. Electromagnetic wave theory
4. Quantum theory