物理学史上最美的十个实验第五名.docVIP

物理学史上最美的十个实验第五名 Youngs light-interference experiment 杨氏光的干涉实验 Newton wasnt always right. Through various arguments, he had moved the scientific mainstream toward the conviction that light consists exclusively of particles rather than waves. In 1803, Thomas Young, an English physician and physicist, put the idea to a test. He cut a hole in a window shutter, covered it with a thick piece of paper punctured with a tiny pinhole and used a mirror to divert the thin beam that came shining through. Then he took a slip of a card, about one-thirtieth of an inch in breadth and held it edgewise in the path of the beam, dividing it in two. The result was a shadow of alternating light and dark bands — a phenomenon that could be explained if the two beams were interacting like waves. These so-called double-slit experiments became the standard for determining wavelike motion — a fact that was to become especially important a century later when quantum theory began. 牛顿也不是永远正确。在多次争吵后，牛顿让科学界接受了这样的观点：光是由微粒组成的，而不是一种波。1830年，英国医生、物理学家托马斯·杨用实验来验证这一观点。他在百叶窗上开了一个小洞，然后用厚纸片盖住，再在纸片上戳一个很小的洞。让光线透过，并用一面镜子反射透过的光线。然后他用一个厚约1／30英寸的纸片把这束光从中间分成两束。结果看到了相交的光线和阴影。这说明两束光线可以像波一样相互干涉。这个实验为一个世纪后量子学说的创立起到了至关重要的作用。