OK, let's see what happens when we shine laser light through two slits and onto a wall.
Press the light source button below to see the interference
pattern...
That's what we saw in class! But wait a second,
this isn't exactly like the water waves we
just looked at. Shouldn't
the pattern be "rippling" like waves on a beach?
Light waves ripple too fast for us to see.
What we're seeing is the result of many light waves piled up.
OK, so it makes sense that the pattern for light waves is just like the one for water.
But where does the bizarre part come in?
Well, to understand that we need to go a little
bit further...
OK, let's see what happens when we shine laser light through two slits and onto a wall.
Press the light source button below to see the interference
pattern...
That's what we saw in class! But wait a second,
this isn't exactly like the water waves we
just looked at. Shouldn't
the pattern be "rippling" like waves on a beach?
Light waves ripple too fast for us to see.
What we're seeing is the result of many light waves piled up.
OK, so it makes sense that the pattern for light waves is just like the one for water.
But where does the bizarre part come in?
Well, to understand that we need to go a little
bit further...
