My painting represents the wave-particle duality of light “when light behave as a particle and as a wave”, and also some other things. It is hard for us to measure light’s properties because it can be both a particle and a wave. It changes from its particle property to wave property and vice versa depending on the experimental conditions.

When we charge an electron with a lot of energy, we make it jump from the ground state to another higher energy level of the atom which is “absorption”. Because the excited state is not stable, the electron goes back to the ground state emitting electromagnetic radiation that can be visible light. The colour of the light depends on how much energy was there (from which level it moved back to a lower level). Of course the hydrogen atom for example, the visible lines have nf = 2. Therefore, the electron doesn’t go back to the ground state which is nf = 1 for those transitions.

My painting is a man sitting on a chair on the beach and there are waves in the water in front of him, and above the water there are the colours of the rainbow and also there are some clocks on the sand of the beach. Each one of these elements represents something different than the others.

First of all, the waves of the water express the properties of light when it behaves as a wave. I painted the two properties of waves which are constructive and destructive. This whole wave thing represents the double slit experiment that explains when the top of a wave meet the bottom of another one they cancel each other out and if they both are the same we get bigger waves. There is also a mountain and some clouds on the top of the painting.

Secondly, there are the colours of the rainbow that are in order just like they are in the electromagnetic spectrum. The phenomenon Refraction is the change of direction suffered by a wave as it passes obliquely from one medium to another in which its speed of propagation is altered. For the rainbow, the white light refracts into seven colours, the violet has the highest energy and frequency and the shortest wavelength. Then the energy decreases little by little until the last colour which has the lowest energy and frequency and the longest wavelength which is represented by the red colour. They all represent the properties of the light when it behaves as a particle.

Thirdly, the clocks on the sand. Each one of the clocks has different shape than the others. Also each clock shows different timing. They represent that time is not absolute which is about “relativity” that applies to astronomical scale. Relativity is different than quantum which is related to atomic realm.

Finally; the man who is sitting on the chair represents how people see and understand the world. What people know is not the truth according to the quantum theory because there is no such thing as “absolute truth”. Quantum theory has changed the perception of people about science including how light behaves in two different ways as I am explaining in my art work. So basically, what we see isn’t the truth or reality, it’s just something that represents the things we see.

Now the question is : Are we living in a real world or in another world where we are actually dead?