Friday, November 2, 2007

Light: A particle or a wave?

I am sure much has been said relating light to the nature of God, but I had a new thought yesterday (I am sure others thought of this before). I was thinking about how God is both a God of mercy and a God of justice, and the Scriptures say that Jesus is the lion and the lamb. At initial glance, we think "How could He be both of these seemingly opposing characteristics?" It is something of a mystery to us, but we know it is true. Similarly, we know that light is both a wave and a particle. How can this be? The properties of light baffled physicists for a long time until Einstein came along and showed how light has both aspects. From a physics perspective, particle and wave characteristics are very different. Wave characteristics include refraction, diffraction, interference, reflection, while particle properties are evidenced in different ways through "bits" or "photons" which are sent like impulses as demonstrated in x-rays and other ways . Everything has both a particle nature and a wave nature, and depending on the frequency, one will be more dominant than the other. Each serves a different purpose, and both are necessary. When Yeshua (Jesus) said He is the Light of the world, why should we wonder how he can be both the Lion and the Lamb?

1 comment:

A. Morgenroth said...

I loved this science post too!