[tennis freak]

Einstein helped to prove the wave particle duality with his observation of the photoelectric effect which says that if the photon is absorbed, some of the energy is used to liberate it from the atom, and the rest contributes to the electron's kinetic (moving) energy as a free particle.

[P]

Travels as wave - hits as particle.

would that not defy the laws of physics or something

No - it actually defines them!   

E=MC²

If you are seriously interested, read all about the Young's slit experiment  - it is amazing.   When there is only one slit the photons hit randomly on the other side wall as you would expect a particle traveling randomly to do.  When there are two slits!!!!   you get an interference pattern as if it were a wave travelling through the slits which gives an interference pattern as standard.     THE CLEAVER PART is!!!!!    if you only let one photon go at a time then it only EVER hits the opposite wall as part of the interference pattern - NEVER in the shaded parts of the interference patter - proving it travels as a wave as a single photon (if it were a particle - it couln't 'know' that there are two slits).  

Not sure if what I wrote will make sense to you as a wrote it in a hurry (sorry - about to go home) so do read up on the Youngs slits expt. it IS the definitive explanation of wave particle duality!! (and its quite cool)             -  (That and the above mention of Einstein and the photoelectric effect to prove particle properties.)

Going home for weekend now  -  have fun.

[mrdeadman]

either way a particle won't accerate to the point where the negligable mass increases to that of one of a particle to hit hard enough

how hard are you talking about? we're not trying to  destroy the earth with a beam of light here.

[Tanille]

Well anyways im going to post something so you guys will leave me alone and i can continue working on my math question which by the way is impossibe. so i have decided that since we looked through the slit and saw that light curved it is obviosly wavelike and since some experiments say that it behaves like a particle so their is obviously a logic conclusion being that it is both. well goodbye and have fun

[rctrackstar2007]

on the other hand sound could be used to prove the point that a wave can gain mass

sound is obviously a wave, but if you turn up the volume you can feel the bass or any other sound hitting you, if any of that makes sense

[syko sykes]

on the other hand sound could be used to prove the point that a wave can gain mass

sound is obviously a wave, but if you turn up the volume you can feel the bass or any other sound hitting you, if any of that makes sense

you don't feel the sound, you feel the vibrations from the sub and/or whatever else is vibrating. I think i see what your saying though, sound waves can make your ear drums vibrate so you can hear the sound and things like that. Does that mean sound is a particle too though?

[Borek]

pressure changes

[constant thinker]

Borek nailed sound dead on.

I like the whole duality thing.

Now I'm not sure about this, but doesn't a Bose-Eintein Condensate slow down light?

[tennis freak]

doesn't the theory of quantum mechanics say that everything is both a particle and a wave or am i just misinterpreting the definition

[tennis freak]

Borek nailed sound dead on.

I like the whole duality thing.

Now I'm not sure about this, but doesn't a Bose-Eintein Condensate slow down light?

You are correct the Bose-Einstein Condensate can slow down light, in 1999 a group of scientists slowed it by 17 meters per second and then in 2001 they were able to temporarily stop a beam of light. i am not sure how to interpret this but does that mean that light has particle qualities or does this prove that it has wave qualities?

[jdurg]

pressure changes

Exactly.  Sound is not a wave.  If that were true, then sound could exist in a vacuum, but in a vacuum sound simply ceases to exist.  Sound is a transfer of vibrational energy from one medium to another.  You may ask then how come radio waves work?  Well radio waves work because sound isn't transmitted via the waves.  INFORMATION about the sound is transmitted.  It's the receiver's responsibility to take that information and translate it back into recognizeable sound.

[tennis freak]

wait if it is just a transfer than why do we have the speed of sound? and why does it refract/diffract (whichever) going from one medium to a different medium?

[Borek]

Sound is not a wave.

Sound IS a wave.

Some waves are connected with the medium (like string, air, water surface), some are not (electromagnetic waves). Sound can exist as pressure waves in any medium capable of being pressurized, that's why it dissapears in vacuum.

[xiankai]

at a macroscopical level, things appear to be a wave (continuity). but at a microscopical level, things appear to a particle (discontinuity).

consider the Young split experiment. based on the result of the firing of just one photon, u will notice that it hits the detector at exactly ONLY one place. its only when a second photon comes, that amazingly, appears on the spot where a constructive interference pattern would be if a wave was transmitted rather. well not exactly, but the more photons you fire, the more likely it appears as a wave pattern with constructive and destructive interference.

therefore, to me, there is no problem distinguising the two, it is just from the context you look at, which is macroscopical or microscopical.

[rctrackstar2007]

if light is a particle, then shouldn't it stop soon after hitting water? because it's an actual object, tho small, hitting another one. such as when light hits a building or a human it stops, otherwise there would be no shadows.