Abstract
In ordinary life we refer unhesitatingly to a ray of light — a convenient concept and one that is easy to picture, though it does not actually state anything about the nature of light. Light rays are in fact no more than the paths along which hght energy is propagated. Since we have already mentioned the connection between light and electromagnetic phenomena (Sections 156 and 188), we may rightly surmise that light energy is electromagnetic energy. Of course, the “rays” seen when light enters a dark room through a small aperture are not light rays at all; they are merely illuminated dust particles along the light’s path. The rays themselves are invisible. Only when light reaches the eye, when it has been absorbed in the retina, does it produce a sensation of light.
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© 1968 Springer-Verlag, Berlin · Heidelberg
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Westphal, W.H. (1968). Light and General Radiation Physics. In: A Short Textbook of Physics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-85476-7_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-85476-7_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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