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Is it determined that light is a wave or a particle or it still exists as a dual nature? because young's experiment said that light is a wave but still I hear people saying that light shows both wave and particle nature.

please answer my question in a layman's language as I am still not introduced to technical terms.

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    $\begingroup$ The nature of light has not changed. It still behaves in particle-like ways in some experiments, and it still behaves in wave-like ways in others. What is this "determination" that you are waiting for? Do you expect light to stop behaving in one way or the other? $\endgroup$
    – Solomon Slow
    Commented Jan 12 at 11:19
  • $\begingroup$ This might help - How can a red light photon be different from a blue light photon? $\endgroup$
    – mmesser314
    Commented Jan 12 at 14:53
  • $\begingroup$ Light exists in the EM field ... a good model is that a photon is a concentrated (or localized) wave in the EM field. When an atom gets the energy from the photon it acted in a very small location so we say it acted light a particle. When light is diffracted, it shows its wave nature. Light it NOT one thing or another it just can show its unique properties, it always has both properties. $\endgroup$
    – PhysicsDave
    Commented Jan 13 at 0:39

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No, light still exists as both particle and wave. You can think of it like this, at micro levels, when we are talking about lengths which are comparable to the wavelength of light, light behaves as a wave, but, when we are talking about larger things, then light acts as a particle. So, like in Double Slit Experiment, since the size of the slit is comparable to wavelength of light, it shows wave nature. But, in case of Photo-electric effect, the size of the metal plate is too big and the electrons too small so, it acts as a particle.

So, in conclusion we consider light as as wave and a particle, and this will continue until we are able to find a theory which can explain both kinds of behavior by considering light only as a wave or a particle.

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    $\begingroup$ Yes I agree. Light exists in the EM field ... a good model is that a photon is a concentrated (or localized) wave in the EM field. When an atom gets the energy from the photon it acted in a very small location so we say it acted light a particle. When light is diffracted, it shows its wave nature. $\endgroup$
    – PhysicsDave
    Commented Jan 13 at 0:40
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The answer to what exactly light is depends on when you ask the question. The thing is if you ask the same question in different situations, the answer will be different and all are also true. If you want to see particle-like behavior, you will find light behaves like a particle (For example, the Photoelectric effect). Also, if you want to see wave-like behavior the same state holds (Double-slit experiment). So this duality does not come from the fact that it is yet not clear whether light is a particle or wave, it stands that it is not restricted to those two categories.

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