An experiment that illuminates the quantum world to answer the question ‘How does a human see’: Young’s Experiment

Science is an interesting field. So much so that a fact that everyone accepts today can sometimes become a very different reality with the evidence of a theory put forward hundreds of years ago. Young’s experiment is a good example of this. As performed by Thomas Young The double slit experiment, also called Young’s experiment, Contrary to what was known until that day, he revealed that light has not only particle but also wave properties.

What makes Young’s experiment interesting, which you can even apply at home with your own resources, are the results obtained, as well as Thomas Young’s process of arriving at this experiment. Investigating the relationship between man and nature, the physicist revealed a completely different reality, taking into account the theories of scientists who lived in the past. Bride Let’s take a closer look at what Young’s experiment is and let’s look at the interesting details about this experiment.

Let’s take a look at the world of science before the Young experiment:

• Isaac Newton

Before moving on to Young’s experiment and the wave theory of light, which was carried out by Thomas Young in the 19th century, it would be useful to take a closer look at the scientific world of that period. Until that time coined by names like Isaac Newton and Descartes. The particle theory of light worked for physicists, yielding results that confirmed many studies on light.

The study of electricity and sound waves was a very popular subject among scientists in the late 18th century. Electricity and noise were waves, that was accepted. But Thomas Young and some scientists couldn’t help thinking; Can light also be a wave? It is on this question that some studies and experiments have begun.

Who is Thomas Young who did the Young experiment? Actually, his real interest was in the field of medicine:

• Thomas Young

Born in England on June 13, 1773, Thomas Young received elementary education in many different fields of science and art. A real intellectual, Young He was interested in medicine. But what he really wanted was to see. How did people see it?

Out of this curiosity, he started working in the field of medicine, more specifically in the field of the eye and vision. Thomas Young again realized an interesting fact. The eye could see through the incoming light. Okay, but if the light is in a particle structure, how did it give such a result when it entered the eye? On this demand, his field expanded and he began working in the fields of optics and electrodynamics.

Thomas Young announced the wave theory of light in an article:

The first studies on the structure of light date back to the Renaissance. In these experiments, which are usually performed with water waves, waves from two sources converge and showed that light has a particle structure. At that time, all scientists generally accepted this theory.

In 1800 Thomas Young published an article in which he argued that light has not only a particle but also a wavy character. But Young was a newbie. He presented this theory without applying experiment, which is the main feature that makes science science. There was a lot of pressure on him, he had to prove the wave theory of light with an experiment, and he rolled up his sleeves.

The double-slit experiment was conducted in front of the leading scientists of the time:

On November 24, 1803, Thomas Young was appointed a member of the British Royal Society of Science. He attended the meeting with a large bowl in his hand. He requested that all curtains be closed and that no light enters. In the basin in his hand he placed a plank with two holes in it. He made two slits in one of the curtains with a needle. He placed another curtain half a meter in front of it.

If the light had only a particle structure, as it was known until that day, regular shapes would form on the curtain inside, just like those slits. But on that screen waves formed, just as observed in water and sound waves. There it was, the light was quite wavy. But science also has its bigots.

Thomas Young’s experiment visibly turned everything known up to that point on its head. Many physicists said it was a gimmick. However, Young did not give up, he also created a strong theoretical background to prove this model and turned it into a book. This theory, put forward by Young’s experiment, began to be studied by other physicists.

How is Young’s experiment going? Many physicists have also worked on the topic:

Thomas Young started working as an ophthalmologist after coming up with a theory to support his experiment. on May 10, 1829 until he died He continued his work to enrich the basis of the wave theory of light. He rejected important physicists such as Jean Fresnel and Christiaan Huygens who wanted to work with him at the time, but they continued to work independently.

The research of Jean Fresnel and Christiaan Huygens entered the history of science as the Huygens-Fresnel principle. These two names They formulated the wave theory introduced by Young’s experiment. The wave principle they created also applied to light, sound, electricity and magnetism in water.

In 1961, Clauss Jönsson, who worked at the University of Tübingen, performed the double slit experiment on electrons. In 1999, the pieces seen in the microscope were observed to exhibit wave-like interference. In 2002, this experiment by Clauss Jönsson was considered the most successful double-slit experiment.

What does the Young experiment describe and why is it so important?

First of all, of course, Thomas Young’s double slit experiment, Contrary to popular belief, light is not just made up of particles. It also reveals that it has a wavy texture. Another important point is that it shows us all that the fields of medicine and physics, which seem to be independent of each other, are actually as inseparable as man and nature.

Let’s come to the reflection of Young’s experiment today, quantum. Quantum mechanics, as we explained earlier in our article here, can be seen with the eye and even microscopes can barely see. visible only with special devices works on a world. Here, Young’s experiment is actually a reflection of that world.

American theoretical physicist Richard Feynman, who also received the Nobel Prize in Physics, analyzed the results of experiments with two slits and applied to the quantum world. Maybe not today, but one day the data obtained by Young’s experiment and the like will solve the mystery of the quantum world.

Proving the wave theory of light to the world of science What is Young’s experiment? By answering the question, we talked about how important it is to the world of science. This topic goes pretty deep, of course, but in this article we wanted to explain how a simple experiment affects the scientific world, rather than baffling the reader with technical details. You can share your thoughts on the topic in the comments.