Running head: Isaac Newtons Corpuscle

Isaac Newtons corpuscle Seth Roberts Physics 1010-001

Isaac Newtons Corpuscle Abstract This essay is on Isaac Newtons Discovery of light as a particle. At the time of Isaac Newtons discovery light was thought of as a wave that moved longitudinally, much like sound. Isaac Newton created an experiment with prisms that proved light acted as a particle. However, Newton had not provided enough detail of his experiments and others were unable to recreate them. Isaac withdrew from the debate until he was elected President of the Royal Society in 1704. Shortly after being elected Newton published Opticks which gave great detail of his experiments and provided a defense on his theory that light was consistent of tiny particles he called corpuscles. Keywords: Corpuscle

Isaac Newtons Corpuscle Main Body Isaac Newton was born in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire on January 4, 1643. Newton attended Cambridge University in 1661, where he became interested in mathematics, physics, astronomy and optics (BBC). Newton conducted experiments throughout the 1660s on the composition of light; finding that the light that makes up white light is actually composed of the colors displayed in a rainbow. In 1660 Italian physicist Francesco Grimaldi discovered, and coined the term, diffraction. Grimaldi showed that a beam of light projected through thin slits creates fringes of light and dark. This was an important finding for those that advocated a wave theory of light since the sharp boundaries created by shadows implied that light could not bend around corners in the same way that a sound or water waves can (Star Garden). This lead to the idea that light was a longitudinal wave. Isaac Newton disputed the theory of light as a wave claiming that diffraction was simply a new form of refraction that reflection and refraction could only be explained geometrically if light was of tiny particles, that he called corpuscles. After having had joined the Royal Society of London in 1672, Newton stated that the 44th trail in a series of experiments he had conducted earlier that year had proven that light is made of particles and not waves (Star Garden). Newton used two prisms and the light of the Sun to conduct his experiments. By placing prisms in appropriate angles Newton was able to refract light in such a way that it diverged into its individual wavelengths. Although the color spectrum does not have lines of separation Newton chose to separate the rainbow into the seven colors of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Newton chose the number seven as this reflected the Ancient Greek belief that it is a mystical number (Star Garden).

Isaac Newtons Corpuscle Although Newton was confident in his corpuscle theory he had failed to provide enough detail of his experiments which led to much scrutiny from members of the society such as Robert Hook. Newton had given little detail as to the size of the prisms or the geometry involved which made it quite difficult to reproduce the experiments. Prisms at the time were not commonly accepted as scientific instruments and were made with little technical work done on them. Isaac Newton claimed that those who had failed to replicate his experiments simply were using bad prisms, suggesting that London made them clearer. This was seen as an excuse and Isaac eventually withdrew from the Debate. (Star Garden) While Isaac Newton had withdrawn from the light debate others such as Christiaan Huygens were still working on the wave theory of light. Huygens was a Dutch mathematician whom in 1678 claimed to have disproven Newton's theory by showing that the laws of reflection and refraction could be derived from his wave theory of light. Huygens believed that light moved in longitudinal waves, much like sound. However, this meant that Huygens wave theory of light relied on the concept that the universe was filled with Aristotles fifth element, the Aether. (Star Garden) Huygens had claimed that light was a wave but when it came to explaining the effects of calcite crystals he was stumped. Calcite crystal creates a double image as light passes through it and this was something Huygens wave theory could not explain. Isaac Newton did not contribute to the argument until he was elected president of the Royal Society In 1704, he shortly after published Opticks. In which Newton showed how to reconstruct his experiments in more detail demonstrating that light is consistent of particles. Using his publication of Opticks he also defended his stance on diffraction by appealing to wavelike properties arguing that particles of light create waves in the Aether (Star Garden).

Isaac Newtons Corpuscle Isaac Newton has contributed greatly in the exploration of the natural properties of physical functions. He has provided the world with Calculus, the theory of gravitation, discovered the spectra of light and much more. Isaac Newton was a great proponent in setting forth the age of reason being knighted in 1705. Light is now known to be a particle that moves in waves. These waves have come to be known as the electromagnetic spectrum a spectrum that consists of the rainbow. Although the visible light is not broken up between colors, which makes up only a small portion of the spectrum, the rainbow of colors are traditionally broken up into Newtons seven.

Isaac Newtons Corpuscle References BBC (2014). Isaac Newton (1643 - 1727). Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/newton_isaac.shtml The Star Garden (2014). Newtons Theory of Light. Retrieved from http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/NewtonAndLight.html