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Particles or Waves?

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Particles, Fields and Forces

Part of the book series: The Frontiers Collection ((FRONTCOLL))

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Abstract

Quantum mechanics shows the peculiar nature of the world around us. It relates to an ancient discussion: is nature build from particles or waves ? Or both? Newton preferred a particle view. He discovered that light consists of different colours, and that these colours can be recombined into white light. He explained this behaviour using a particle view of light, which he described in his publication “Opticks” (1704). He managed to explain reflection and refraction using a particle model. He also discovered the so-called Newton rings, which are an interference phenomenon.

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Schmitz, W. (2019). Particles or Waves?. In: Particles, Fields and Forces. The Frontiers Collection. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12878-4_2

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