Atomic Theory

Abstract

We mentioned in Chapter 1 that the phenomenon of light was to present difficulties to scientists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There appeared to be two ways of describing light, either in terms of a projectile or particle model (the particles of light are known as photons) as championed by Newton using Newtonian mechanics, or in terms of classical wave motion, which gained very solid support from diffraction experiments. The fact that light could be diffracted seemed clear evidence that it could be ascribed wavelike characteristics. The electromagnetic wave theory due to Maxwell was applied to the behavior of light very successfully. By the turn of the century the wave theory of light had gained almost universal acceptance.