Question:

Which of the following phenomenon is not explained by Huygen’s wave theory?

Updated On: Jun 13, 2025
  • Diffraction
  • Polarisation
  • Photoelectric effect
  • Interference
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The Correct Option is C

Solution and Explanation

Huygen's wave theory is a classical wave theory that can explain several wave phenomena. Here’s a brief explanation:

  • Diffraction: This phenomenon occurs when waves bend around obstacles or spread as they pass through narrow openings. Huygen's principle, which involves treating each point on a wavefront as a source of secondary wavelets, can explain how waves spread and create diffraction patterns.
  • Polarization: This is the property of waves that can oscillate with more than one orientation. Light, being a transverse wave, can be polarized, and Huygen’s wave theory can account for the changes in wave orientation through reflection and refraction, explaining polarization effects.
  • Interference: This is when two waves superpose to form a resultant wave of greater, lower, or the same amplitude. Huygen's wave theory can explain interference through the superposition of waves with the principle of wavefronts interfering spatially.
  • Photoelectric Effect: This phenomenon occurs when photons (light particles) collide with a material and cause electrons to be emitted. The photoelectric effect cannot be explained by wave theories like Huygen’s, as it involves quantum aspects of light that were later explained by Einstein's photoelectric equation, asserting the particle nature of light.

Given these explanations, the phenomenon not explained by Huygen’s wave theory is the Photoelectric Effect.

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Concepts Used:

Wave Optics

  • Wave optics are also known as Physical optics which deal with the study of various phenomena such as polarization, interference, diffraction, and other occurrences where ray approximation of geometric optics cannot be done. Thus, the section of optics that deals with the behavior of light and its wave characteristics is known to be wave optics.
  • In wave optics, the approximation is carried out by utilizing ray optics for the estimation of the field on a surface. Further, it includes integrating a ray-estimated field over a mirror, lens, or aperture for the calculation of the transmitted or scattered field.
  • Wave optics stands as a witness to a famous standoff between two great scientific communities who devoted their lives to understanding the nature of light. Overall, one supports the particle nature of light; the other supports the wave nature.
  • Sir Isaac Newton stood as a pre-eminent figure that supported the voice of particle nature of light, he proposed a corpuscular theory which states that “light consists of extremely light and tiny particles, called corpuscles which travel with very high speeds from the source of light to create a sensation of vision by reflecting on the retina of the eye”.