Diffraction definition for kids11/21/2023 ![]() So, is quantum stuff a particle or a wave? Well, scientists decided to check by sending electrons through the two slits. If it’s a wave, it’ll create a diffraction pattern due to the mini-waves interacting with one another. So, if something is a particle, it travels straight through the slit and arrives on the other side. The really smart term for this is “diffraction pattern.” ![]() Instead, you’ll see multiple blips of light where the waves merged together, and darkness where the waves cancelled each other out. Some will cancel each other out, and some will merge into one big mega-ripple.Īs such, when you observe a light wave hitting the wall on the other side, you won’t see two columns of light parallel to each slit. The ripples from each stone will meet up with one another. ![]() This is like if you drop two stones into a pond at the same time. These mini waves then bump into each other and mess things up a bit. This is because, when the wave goes through the slits, it creates a ‘mini wave’ at each slit. When you send a light wave toward these two slots, they won’t just travel through the slits and go straight to the wall. However, you can use any wave, as long as the two slits are a wavelength apart. When demonstrating how a wave interacts with the double-slit experiment, scientists like to shine light through the two slits, because we know it’s a wave and you can see the results with the naked eye. You can imagine the particles like paintballs only the spots on the wall adjacent to the slits will get hit.Ī wave, however, works a little differently. The particles will only hit the spots on the wall that are parallel to the slits. The premise is simple if you pass particles through two nearby slits, they’ll continue travelling forward until they hit a wall behind it. This is because the double-slit experiment can tell us if something is a particle or a wave without having to squint through a microscope We’re not just throwing any old thing, however we’re shoving things we can’t see with the naked eye through them. It’s called the “double slit experiment,” and as you might guess from the name, it involves shoving stuff through two slits. There’s an experiment that scientists do to show just how weird quantum physics can be. Did you know, however, that quantum physics can get even weirder than that? Earlier in this issue, we talked about quantum computing and how weird it can get.
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