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The wave-like nature of photons does not exclude the particle behavior. Light is both a particle and a wave. Physicists still rely on snells law. Optics course
by ctrl-j 8y ago
The wave-like nature of photons does not exclude the particle behavior. Light is both a particle and a wave.
Physicists still rely on snells law. Optics courses still includes path tracing when studying refraction and dielectrics.
Excluding the particle behavior of light just because the wave nature exists, is not something a physicist would do.
- toolslive 8y agoTrue, but the concept of ray used here is neither particle nor wave. The whole thing is way more geometry than physics.
- mattnewport 8y agoWould you say the same thing about rigid body physics simulations? There's no such thing as an idealized rigid body in reality but such simulations use lots of useful approximations the are also used in "real" physics.
- ctrl-j 8y agoI mean, you're arguing a term that's used in physics isn't physical. Raycasting is often used when solving EM equations. Are you purporting that photon streams don't follow a ray? And when they interact with a surface they don't obey Snells law? And when you look at the interface between mediums a percentage of the intensity is transmitted and the remainder is reflected (the ratio of which is determined by the angle of incidence?)