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大约在2002年左右,网络杂志Physics World针对其读者做了一个网上调查,“你认为最美的物理学实验是哪个?”。最后的结果如下图。有趣的是,排名第一的实验“使用单个电子进行的Young双缝实验”,却没有给出实验者和实验时间。
Top 10 beautiful experiments
1 Young's double-slit experiment applied to the interference of single electrons |
2 Galileo's experiment on falling bodies (1600s) |
3 Millikan's oil-drop experiment (1910s) |
4 Newton's decomposition of sunlight with a prism (1665-1666) |
5 Young's light-interference experiment (1801) |
6 Cavendish's torsion-bar experiment (1798) |
7 Eratosthenes' measurement of the Earth's circumference (3rd century BC) |
8 Galileo's experiments with rolling balls down inclined planes (1600s) |
9 Rutherford's discovery of the nucleus (1911) |
10 Foucault's pendulum (1851) |
Others experiments that were cited included: |
Archimedes' experiment on hydrostatics |
Roemer's observations of the speed of light |
Joule's paddle-wheel heat experiments |
Reynolds's pipe flow experiment |
Mach & Salcher's acoustic shock wave |
Michelson-Morley measurement of the null effect of the ether |
Röntgen's detection of Maxwell's displacement current |
Oersted's discovery of electromagnetism |
The Braggs' X-ray diffraction of salt crystals |
Eddington's measurement of the bending of starlight |
Stern-Gerlach demonstration of space quantization |
Schrödinger's cat thought experiment |
Trinity test of nuclear chain reaction |
(PhysicsWorld, http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/9746)
排名第一和第五的都与量子力学密切相关,我们先来看看排名第五的Young的双缝实验。这还得先从波派和粒子派的论争说起。
实际上,在牛顿的时代(1600年左右),这场激烈的比赛就已经开始了。当时,尽管以胡克(Hooke)为首的主张“光是波”的科学家也不少,而且自然界存在着许多“光是波”的证据,但是超级“神牛”牛顿认为“光是粒子”,比赛以“粒子派”的胜利结束了。其后,关于“自然哲学的数学原理”的成果归属,牛顿和胡克之间的恩怨就不去评说了。
又过了200年,比赛重开,这次登场的是Young!一脚犀利的远射,终于洞穿了“粒子派”的大门!这脚远射就是著名的“双缝实验”。通过这个实验,Young得到了“光干涉条纹”。