The concept of the double slit interference pattern was something that baffled me at several points in both my high school and collegiate physics courses. I remember doing labs on this and having the feeling that the concept WOULD be something important to understand but I just never connected the dots and was able to visualize the phenomena and what went into it.
Truth be told, I think this is an example of a whole slew of concepts that a lot of physics professors 'get' themselves but have a hard time passing on the visualization and importance on to their students. In high school, something like this may be glossed over - which makes the introduction almost pointless. The very premise of the wave-particle duality is one of the most fascinating aspects you can address when describing electromagnetic waves, and yet it's all too easy to either go over your students' heads or underestimate their ability to grasp the concept. In all honesty, how many of you scratched your heads and/or yawned whenever the terms 'double slit', 'interference pattern' and 'wave-particle duality' came up? That's what I thought.
Well, thanks to our friend Dr. Quantum, even those of you who hated physics and struggled with it can get a powerful visual for not only how the experiment works, but WHY it's so dang crucial to both the study of electromagnetic waves and quantum physics:
Dr. Quantum - Double Slit Experiment
Although I won't need to go into the quantum aspect of this video too much in my class, it's going to be immensely helpful when I talk about the light wave version. The animation alone with the highlighted interference on the waves simplified and clarified a concept that I used to be rather puzzled about. This gets added to the list of go-to videos along with Bill Nye!
Brian,
ReplyDeleteI remember you showing this Dr. Quantum video to me, and it blew me away! I just watching it again, and I am going to make a point of using it in my classroom. It is very hard to visualize these phenomena, I usually refer to the ripple of water to explain it, but these visuals and effects are unparalleled!
Thanks again!
-Joe