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In modern physics, the double-slit experiment demonstrates that light and matter can exhibit behavior of both classical particles and classical waves. This type of experiment was first performed by Thomas Young in 1801, as a demonstration of the wave behavior of visible light. [ 1 ]
In the late 17th century, Sir Isaac Newton had advocated that light was corpuscular (particulate), but Christiaan Huygens took an opposing wave description. While Newton had favored a particle approach, he was the first to attempt to reconcile both wave and particle theories of light, and the only one in his time to consider both, thereby anticipating modern wave-particle duality.
Unlike the modern double-slit experiment, Young's experiment reflects sunlight (using a steering mirror) through a small hole, and splits the thin beam in half using a paper card. [6] [10] [11] He also mentions the possibility of passing light through two slits in his description of the experiment: Modern illustration of the double-slit experiment
As a distinct field, experimental physics was established in early modern Europe, during what is known as the Scientific Revolution, by physicists such as Galileo Galilei, Christiaan Huygens, Johannes Kepler, Blaise Pascal and Sir Isaac Newton. In the early 17th century, Galileo made extensive use of experimentation to validate physical ...
With Young's interference experiment, the predecessor of the double-slit experiment, he demonstrated interference in the context of light as a wave. Plate from "Lectures" of 1802 (RI), pub. 1807. Young, speaking on 24 November 1803, to the Royal Society of London, began his now-classic description of the historic experiment: [35]
1774 – Charles Mason: Conducts an experiment near the Scottish mountain of Schiehallion that attempts to measure the mean density of the Earth for the first time. Known as the Schiehallion experiment. 1796 – Edward Jenner: tests the first vaccine. 1798 – Henry Cavendish: Torsion bar experiment to measure Newton's gravitational constant.
Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for giving us the first split-second glimpse into the superfast world of spinning electrons, a field that could one day lead to better ...
Cavendish experiment (1798): Henry Cavendish's torsion bar experiment measures the force of gravity in a laboratory. Double-slit experiment (c.1805): Thomas Young shows that light is a wave in his double-slit experiment.