Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi,

I am in 11th grade.I was wondering if the interactions of light can be classified according to how "particle-like" and how "wave-like" they are. I want to do a research based project on determining the factors on which light will show the extent of its particle or wave nature and then devise an index or a scale which will determine the relative manifestation of the two.
I have studied quantum optics on a very elementary level.So, please tell me if my plan is fundamentally flawed or practically feasible.If you can also give me links where I can learn more about this.

Thanks

This seems like an excellent concept for a project! Unfortunately, I'm not finding any projects on this topic here on the Science Buddies site in the project ideas section (there might be one, but a quick search is not finding it).

Some examples of project on this topic that I found on the web are:
http://www.super-science-fair-projects. ... jects.html
http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Science-F ... Experiment

There are some excellent resources at Science Buddies on how to refine your "question". Right now, your concept is pretty broad. You'll want to narrow that down to a question that can be tested.

Please let us know if we can help further.

I can think of a few difficulties.
1) There are several phenomenon that can be explained by both a particle and a wave mechanism.
2) The uncertainty principle will be involved in observations
3) We don't know everything there is to know about light
4) How do you pick and choose which phenomenon to include?
a) Are the phonomenon chosen have an overlap of underlying physics?
b) Do you have suffient coverage of phenomenon?
5) It is unlikely to get a scientific consensus that any choice and weighting of phenomenon chosen is useful even if everyone agrees on the partical vs wave judging of each individual phenomenon chosen.

The scale you're thinking of is energy, and for light it is most easily manifested in terms of frequency or wavelength.

The "classic" experiment you want to read up on is known as double-slit diffraction. I think this will give you a good idea on how to proceed.

Good luck,
Ivo