👉 Light particles, or photons, are the fundamental units of electromagnetic radiation, but they exhibit some peculiar behaviors that defy classical intuition. Unlike classical particles, photons are massless and travel at the speed of light in a vacuum, which is a universal constant. However, their wave-particle duality means they can behave both as discrete packets of energy and as continuous waves, depending on the experiment. This duality is famously illustrated by phenomena like the photoelectric effect, where light can eject electrons from a metal surface, suggesting it carries energy in quantized chunks. Additionally, photons exhibit polarization, meaning their electric fields oscillate in specific directions, and they can interfere and diffract like waves, yet always maintain their particle-like properties, such as momentum and energy. These characteristics challenge our everyday understanding of matter and energy, making photons one of the most fascinating and counterintuitive light particles.
