TexasCHLforum.com

A friend came over after church yesterday, and when the topic of the Double-Slit Experiment somehow came up, he said he hadn't heard of that. While my roommate was trying to explain it to him, I had a thought... "Self", I said to myself, "surely you can concoct a couple of tightly placed slits from stuff you have laying around the house." Having agreed with myself, I interrupted my roommate to inquire whether either of us possessed a laser pointer, to which he said, no doubt with fear in his voice, "Yes".

Thus the fun began...

So here's what wikipedia example of the double-slit experiment's results look like (the one on the bottom):


And here's the results we got on the garage door: It's not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with our results.

I remember doing this in junior high school. Of course we didn't have lasers back then.

And these days I'm pretty sure the conventional wisdom is that the school would spontaneously burst into flames if students and laser pointers come within 100ft of each other.

Love doing this expirment. If you are as truly hooked on science and math as am I then this hour and 13 mins will get you hooked for good.

[youtube]uK2eFv7ne_Q[/youtube]

That is my favorite primer on the subject. That fist vid is no problem for most anyone to get through. His following lectures get pretty math-heavy but it's worth it. If you decide to go in for his entire series, brush up on your complex numbers first.

Many scientists say that if you really, really get immersed in Quantum Mechanics it will change the way you look at everything. This statement has held true for me at least.

Enjoy
Mark C.

ETA: Imagine what you'd have to pay to attend that class at Yale with Dr. Shankar. Yale has may other great lectures online http://oyc.yale.edu/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dave2 wrote:And these days I'm pretty sure the conventional wisdom is that the school would spontaneously burst into flames if students and laser pointers come within 100ft of each other.

Only if they cross the beams. NEVER cross the beams.