Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Office of Science NEWTON's Homepage NEWTON's Homepage
NEWTON, Ask A Scientist!
NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne Light Interference/Quantum Mechanics 
Name: N/A
Status: N/A
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
I am doing a project about light interference and am wondering if the classic Two-Slit experiment (where light entering 2 slits comes out of the slits and sets up an interference pattern on the background) can be some how related or tied to quantum mechanics or particle-wave duality? Would really appreciate it and THANKS!


Replies:
The 2-slit experiment sort of proves that light behaves like a wave, right?

Because particles do not have interference patterns. You can do another experiment that proves that light behaves like particles - but you can even do it in the 2-slit case if you turn the light level way down and have a very sensitive detection system - then it is possible to see the interference patterns even when only 1 photon (light particle) passes through the slit every millisecond or so, and you will see the random bursts from these individual photons in your detector, but on average, after you have waited a long time, the pattern of the places where the photons fall follows the same interference pattern you get in the classical experiment. It is really kind of mysterious, but fascinating.

Arthur Smith


Click here to return to the Physics Archives

NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.

For assistance with NEWTON contact a System Operator (help@newton.dep.anl.gov), or at Argonne's Educational Programs

NEWTON AND ASK A SCIENTIST
Educational Programs
Building 360
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne, Illinois
60439-4845, USA
Update: June 2012
Weclome To Newton

Argonne National Laboratory