Why does light behave as both a wave and a particle?

Light can act like both a wave and a particle, depending on how we look at it.

Imagine you're playing with water in the bathtub. If you flick your finger across the surface, ripples spread out, that's like a wave. Now imagine you drop a marble into the water, making a splash. That’s more like a particle, something solid that moves and hits the water.

Light can do both things! When we look at light passing through a window or bending around an edge, it behaves like a wave, just like those ripples in the tub.

Now imagine you're throwing tiny balls into a basket. Each ball is a separate object, that’s like a particle. In some experiments, light acts like these little balls, one by one, hitting surfaces or being counted as individual bits of energy.

So, depending on the situation, light can be like ripples in water (a wave) or like tiny balls flying through the air (particles). It's not magic, it’s just how light works!