How might we determine whether the energy was being carried by particles(material bodies) or by waves?
It is difficult to determine this because there is a large split in what physists think about this. There are experiments that you can carry out such as ; testing for diffraction, when passed through a gap waves ‘spread out’ this proves that the energy is carried by waves. To test wether something is carried by particles it can be passed through and electro-magnetic field if its path is diverted then it is proved to be carried by particles. Frofluk – think you misunderstod the question he meant is energy carried by waves or particles. And of course there is a possiblity that waves carry energy they move and so ‘carry’ kentetic energy However in many case, such as light, both of these test give a positive results. This means the enery is being carried by both a particle and a wave.
