Slashdot Mirror
Most Beautiful Experiment in Physics
An anonymous reader writes "Robert P. Crease has concluded his poll
asking what the most beautiful experiment in physics is. The winner was Young's double slit experiment performed using a single electron. Attentive readers will remember that Slashdot had a discussion of Crease's question previously, which Crease mentions in his current article." If you're unfamiliar with the experiment, Google pulls up a bunch of applets and demonstrations.
The beauty of this experiment is not just the effect that it generates but the way it simply demonstrates a complex phenomena. By complex I mean that it demonstrates that light travels as waves, until you fire only 1 photon then you prove it travels as particles as well.
Simple, brilliant and something that the more you learn about physics the more you learn about what the experiment shows.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
Anyone ever wonder how useful that sidebar actually is, given the lack of context and (possibly) the lack of forethought on the part of submitters/editors?
Take this story for example: "concluded", "asking", and "previously" compared to the more reasonable link text of "single electron" (still unclear) and "applets and demonstrations".
Flame away, but someone had to ask.
"Some of your past moderations have been meta moderated by 0 other Slashdot readers."
Go and mod it down and admit that you're missing the punchline that is we're talking about beautiful physics experiments on what amounts to little more than a half-baked web experiment (see also: my quote).
Easy does it!
This comment has been submitted already, 276865 hours , 59 minutes ago. No need to try again.
Men must have voted for this one.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
i have to say that physics, especially on the quantumn level, is the most interesting science I know of. there are others that are fascinating but nothing gets to the heart of everything like physics. can i get an amen? :) the slit experiment, when I first read about it in some layman's guide to physics just floored me with its simplicity and easy understandability.
-
and I got several results that were not really related to physics. Not that I'm complaing :)
The double slit is great. I might vote for the 1919 experiment of Eddington, which verified General Relativity, showing that the mass of the sun bent the path of light. A sweet verification.
just a simple physics student's comment.
I think that my yearly visit to the optometrist would is long overdue!
seriously. Where else but slashdot would a bunch of teenagers discuss "double slits" and "creases" and not be thinking of girls?
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Oh, wait, you're looking for the most beautiful experiment! Sorry, I was going for the coolest one.
In my class, the monkey got it through the neck once and the crotch on the second shot. Standing ovation on that one, with a quite a few groans.