YouTube Description:
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.%2...
13 Comments
effin98says...Nice, but the video doesn't address the best part: the effect of observation.
siftbotTags for this video have been changed from 'light, wave, particle, newton, young, street science' to 'light, wave, particle, newton, young, street science, double slit experiment' - edited by xxovercastxx
xxovercastxxIt also leaves you with the impression that light is a wave and not a particle. In truth, it depends on the circumstances and who's looking.
Nice, but the video doesn't address the best part: the effect of observation.
poolcleanerIt's interesting how the brain processes information. I studied this in school and academic decathlon (where I performed quite well), and yet I could not verbalize this knowledge today. But upon seeing this video, I was not surprised by the data, so much as surprised at how ineffective my previous learning was.
Relearning via the internets. And this time it's sticking because I enjoy it and feel a sense of worth upon relearning it. Why was I so concerned about testing scores? God, what a worthless system of competition. I guess some people excel when challenged by the possibility that they will be outperformed by other students.
nockYeah. They forgot to address the whole, "It's a wave AND a particle" problem.
ravioliNormally, the big hit with this experiment is that you put some charcoal dust on the viewfinder pad, and everyone looks up afterwards with a black ring around their eye. That's magical.
cluhlenbrauckyour whole personality in 5 words.
(where I performed quite well)
messenger*Canada-ian
siftbotAdding video to channels (Canada) - requested by messenger.
deathcow*history
siftbotAdding video to channels (History) - requested by deathcow.
deathcowThe biggest omission was not covering up just one hole and seeing what they saw.
Nice, but the video doesn't address the best part: the effect of observation.
arghnesssays...Did you watch until the very end of the video? There's a bit more information.
Yeah. They forgot to address the whole, "It's a wave AND a particle" problem.
Discuss...
Enable JavaScript to submit a comment.