Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > sci.physics > #535744

Re: The Original Double Slit Experiment

Show key headers only | View raw

On 27/11/2015 9:01 AM, Sam Wormley wrote:
> The Original Double Slit Experiment
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iuv6hY6zsd0
>
>> Light is so common that we rarely think about what it really is. But
>> just over two hundred years ago, a groundbreaking experiment answered
>> the question that had occupied physicists for centuries. Is light
>> made up of waves or particles?
>>
>> The experiment was conducted by Thomas Young and is known as Young's
>> Double Slit Experiment. This famous experiment is actually a
>> simplification of a series of experiments on light conducted by
>> Young. In a completely darkened room, Young allowed a thin beam of
>> sunlight to pass through an aperture on his window and onto two
>> narrow, closely spaced openings (the double slit). This sunlight then
>> cast a shadow onto the wall behind the apparatus. Young found that
>> the light diffracted as it passed through the slits, and then
>> interfered with itself, created a series of light and dark spots.
>> Since the sunlight consists of all colours of the rainbow, these
>> colours were also visible in the projected spots. Young concluded
>> that light consist of waves and not particles since only waves were
>> known to diffract and interfere in exactly the manner that light did
>> in his experiment.
>>
>> The way I have always seen this experiment performed is with a laser
>> and a manufactured double slit but since the experiment was conducted
>> in 1801 I have always thought that it should be possible to recreate
>> the experiment using sunlight and household materials. That is
>> basically what I did here. I will show the interference pattern I
>> observed with my homemade double slit on 2Veritasium but I chose to
>> use a manufactured double slit here to ensure that the pattern was
>> impressive for observers at the beach.
>>
>> Special thanks to Henry, Brady, and Rupert for their cameos, Glen for
>> filming and Josh for helping create the apparatus. Thanks also to the
>> Royal Society for allowing us to view the original manuscript of
>> Young's lecture and the University of Sydney for lending the double
>> slits.

It was a nice example of how an experiment can seem conclusive, only to 
be shown much later to be capable of a different interpretation.

The subsequent realisation that electrons could be made to do much the 
same thing indicated that while the experiment showed that waves were 
involved, it didn't necessarily show that light consisted of a wave.

Now, the group's kooks will no doubt jump on this as proving that 
science was wrong. They would be mistaken. Experiments only verify; they 
don't prove. The double slit experiment was, and remains, consistent 
with the idea that light is a wave. However, it happens to be consistent 
with other possibilities as well, which wasn't obvious at the time.

Sylvia.

Back to sci.physics | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

The Original Double Slit Experiment Sam Wormley <swormley1@gmail.com> - 2015-11-26 16:01 -0600
  Re: The Original Double Slit Experiment Sylvia Else <sylvia@not.at.this.address> - 2015-11-27 10:24 +1100
    Re: The Original Double Slit Experiment Sam Wormley <swormley1@gmail.com> - 2015-11-26 17:51 -0600
    Re: The Original Double Slit Experiment Lester Thorpe <lt11@thorpe.info> - 2015-11-27 05:03 +0000
      Re: The Original Double Slit Experiment benj <none@gmail.com> - 2015-11-27 01:19 -0500
        Re: The Original Double Slit Experiment jay moseley <jaymoseley@hotmail.com> - 2015-11-27 02:09 -0800
          Re: The Original Double Slit Experiment benj <nobody@gmail.com> - 2015-11-27 11:25 -0500
            Re: The Original Double Slit Experiment Lester Thorpe <lt11@thorpe.info> - 2015-11-27 16:42 +0000
          Re: The Original Double Slit Experiment "Ross A. Finlayson" <ross.finlayson@gmail.com> - 2015-11-27 09:42 -0800
      Re: The Original Double Slit Experiment Sylvia Else <sylvia@not.at.this.address> - 2015-11-27 20:15 +1100
        Re: The Original Double Slit Experiment "Ross A. Finlayson" <ross.finlayson@gmail.com> - 2015-11-27 01:29 -0800
        Re: The Original Double Slit Experiment benj <none@gmail.com> - 2015-11-28 05:16 -0500
        Re: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, explained. benj <none@gmail.com> - 2015-11-28 13:23 -0500
          Re: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, explained. "Ross A. Finlayson" <ross.finlayson@gmail.com> - 2015-11-28 10:30 -0800
            Re: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, explained. Sam Wormley <swormley1@gmail.com> - 2015-11-28 12:40 -0600
              Re: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, explained. "Ross A. Finlayson" <ross.finlayson@gmail.com> - 2015-11-28 13:28 -0800
                Re: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, explained. Sam Wormley <swormley1@gmail.com> - 2015-11-28 15:38 -0600
                Re: Now, instead of "From: Ross A. Finlayson", I see "RossBot". benj <none@gmail.com> - 2015-11-28 22:28 -0500
            Re: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, explained. benj <none@gmail.com> - 2015-11-28 20:42 -0500
        Re: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, explained. benj <none@gmail.com> - 2015-11-28 13:26 -0500
          Re: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, explained. Siri Cruz <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2015-11-28 12:29 -0800
            Re: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, explained. benj <none@gmail.com> - 2015-11-28 20:54 -0500
    Re: The Original Double Slit Experiment "Y.Porat" <y.y.porat@gmail.com> - 2015-11-26 22:54 -0800
    Re: The Original Double Slit Experiment "reber g=emc^2" <herbertglazier0@gmail.com> - 2015-11-27 10:41 -0800
      Re: The Original Double Slit Experiment Sylvia Else <sylvia@not.at.this.address> - 2015-11-28 15:38 +1100
        Re: The Original Double Slit Experiment benj <none@gmail.com> - 2015-11-28 03:27 -0500
        Re: The Original Double Slit Experiment "reber g=emc^2" <herbertglazier0@gmail.com> - 2015-11-29 10:33 -0800
      Re: The Original Double Slit Experiment "reber g=emc^2" <herbertglazier0@gmail.com> - 2015-11-29 10:32 -0800
  Re: The Original Double Slit Experiment "reber g=emc^2" <herbertglazier0@gmail.com> - 2015-11-27 10:34 -0800

csiph-web