Scientific myth -double seam interference experiments, our observations really affect the behavior of photons?

There is such a myth about quantum mechanics: our consciousness determines the behavior of micro -particles, and even the objective reality of the physical world. is this real? This article will break this myth and reply to the original face of science. All of this starts with an experiment.

Fate -The dispute between the theory and fluctuation of light

Starting from the New era, the nature of light has aroused controversy in the scientific community. At that time, there were two very different views in the scientific community. One point was that Newton thought of light particles, and the other was HK, Hui, and Hui Geng. The light that Sriolin thinks is waves. Due to Newton's dominance and prestige in the physics world, his light particles said that it had been covered with light fluctuations and became the mainstream view of the scientific community in the next hundred years.

Until Newton's "Optics" published a hundred years later, in 1801, British scientist Thomas Yang reversed this situation with an experiment, making light volatility resurrected again, and even became the mainstream.

The strong proof of light fluctuations -double seam interference experiments

The double seam interference experiment is derived from the single -seam diffraction experiment. After the two slits that are close to each other after each other, it is projected on the screen. Generally speaking, when the light passes through the vertical slit slit At this time, the phenomenon of the spread of the dispersion of the obstacles will occur. What you see on the screen is not a vertical bright pattern, but a horizontal bright band. (As shown in the figure below) This phenomenon was discovered by the Italian Jesuit Father Francisco Maria Grimaldi as early as the 17th century and named it diffracted.

When the two seams of the bright band overlap behind the screen, a brighter light belt should be displayed in theory, but the magical things happen, and eventually it shows a bright and dark stripe on the screen ... (( As shown below)

This is a very weird thing, because in the dark lines of these stripes, it should have light, but when the light of the two seams focuses on overlapping, those positions become no light. This phenomenon seemed to be explained by Newton's particles. Thomas Yang was inspired from the interference of the water waves, proposing that light is a wave, and dark patterns are caused by the interference of light waves.

Light particles say resurrection -Einstein's photoelectric effect

Human cognitive revolution in the universe is always driven by very few geniuses. After another hundred years after the fluctuations of double seam interference experiments, a hundred years later, a genius once again refreshed people's perception of light. This genius was Einstein, the greatest physicist in the twentieth century.

In 1905, Physician just graduated, or Einstein, a small staff member of the Patent Office, published a paper entitled "Inspiration and Inspirational Viewpoint of Light". Essence This pioneering theory made him win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921.

Inquiry of particles and waves -single light and double seam experiment

The proposal of the light quantum is resurrected again, but the problem follows: whether the light is particle or wave? Both forms have experimental evidence, and they seem to be right. But the problem comes again. The waves and particles are two very different features. Under what circumstances does light show the characteristics of waves? Under what circumstances will show the characteristics of particles?

Four years after the light quantum hypothesis, a British physics graduate student Jeffrey Taylor designed a weak light double seam experiment. He used the blackened glass to greatly reduce the brightness of the light source until theoretically at the light source and the screen At most at any time, only one photon passed by, and then used the camera's photosensitive film to expose long -term exposure, recorded the light of double seams.

When the photo was printed, the magical scene appeared. Even if the photon passed the double seams one by one, a clear light and dark interference stripes still appeared in the final exposed photo.

This means that even if there is only one photon through double slit, it still has interference. Who does the photon interfere with? It seems that there is only one explanation: photons interfered with themselves.

Strange Physics -the two phenomena of the waves of light

This problem was not resolved by French scientist De Broo until more than 10 years later. He proposed the two phenomena in his doctorate in physics. He pointed out that not only photons, all micro -particles have the characteristics of waves at the same time, and he calls material waves. The theory of material waves predicts that a single electrons can also generate interference stripes.

When does the light wave become a particle?

After determining the duality of the waves of light, a problem is in front of scientists: when did the light wave become a particle?

An obvious fact is that in all experiments, light is eventually presented in the form of particles! For example, when the electron is blasted in the photoelectric effect, there are some sporadic light spots in the lack of exposed photos, so the answer is obvious: light is a particle when it is observed. That is, the observation makes the wave a particle? What if the measurement occurs earlier? Scientists decided to upgrade the double -seam interference experiment -which seam of measurement of the particles passed.

The myth in the popular science book -when you see, interfere with the stripes disappear ...

Many people see the descriptions of the double -seam interference observation experiments in the science science. They are almost mythical stories. Some stories are filmed with cameras, and some stories are even more crisp. These descriptions are obviously not facts, but some fictional ideas. Now it seems that these ideological experiments have great misleading.

Direct observation will not cause interference stripes to disappear! Whether you look at it with your eyes or the camera! Unveiled -observation leads to interference stripes is not weird

It may be different from the imagination of many people. Scientists are actually not scared by the experimental results of disappearing by observing interference, but this result has long been expected. What scientists actually need to do not observe, but measurement!

Which seams do they want to measure the particles are passed and how do they measure? Taking photons as an example, there is no way to see the photon from the side without interfere with photons. Therefore, the measurement method is actually allowing photons to pass only from one of them ... for example, put a vertical polarized mirror on one of them. In this way, all levels of photons with polarized polarization cannot pass through this seam ...

Seeing that you are smart here, you must have found a cat. Is this just to make Guang only pass by one of them? Isn't this equivalent to a single seam? Earlier we said that photons interfered with ourselves. Now the photon can only pass through one of the gaps, and who else do you interfere with? Native

What is really weird?

In summary, observation caused the disappearance of interference stripes is not weird, but this does not mean that quantum mechanics is not weird! The real strangeness of quantum mechanics is that the micro particles are observed before the "wave" state! The state of this wave is called a superposition state, and the real weird place of quantum mechanics is in this superimposed state! But this is not the scope of this article to discuss. We will have the opportunity to talk about the stack in the future.

In the next article, I will introduce another scientific myth — delay selection experiments! Can it really change the past now? stay tuned.

I am Xingyu Piaoling, Guan^_^Note me, share more interesting scientific knowledge with you.

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