Chapter 61 Wave-Particle Duality, the End of Everything
When Li Qiwei said in front of everyone that he wanted to end the wave-particle debate of light, the atmosphere in the classroom was instantly ignited.
Many students from other schools were outraged and felt that Li Qiwei was talking nonsense.
"How shameless! This is a problem that has been studied for thousands of years and debated for hundreds of years. Many great scientists have been unable to solve it. How can he put an end to it?"
"From a philosophical point of view, the world is unknowable. Everything is changing in the process of development. We can only understand one side of it. Bruce Lee is a little proud."
"Aren't Orientals said to be reserved and introverted? This Bruce Lee is totally different from what we imagined."
Unlike the mocking students, the physicists led by Professor Case were extremely excited, their eyes full of anticipation.
They knew that the photoelectric effect proved by Ridgway meant that light did have particle properties and the wave theory was not correct.
But how will he end it?
Li Qiwei waited until the classroom gradually quieted down before he continued slowly, "In my recent paper published in Nature magazine, I proposed the concept of photons."
"People who are not majoring in physics may not know that photons are light treated as individual particles, which coincides with the concept of particles of light."
"However, I now prefer to just call light quanta photons."
"Using the concept of photons, I successfully explained the photoelectric effect, a problem that has troubled the physics community for more than a decade."
"And the latest experimental results have proved that my photon theory is correct, so light is indeed a particle."
"At this point, some people may think that my so-called third wave-particle debate is probably to support the particle theory."
At this time, various discussions broke out in the classroom, and according to Li Qiwei's previous description, it seemed to be true.
The first time, the particle theory won, the second time, the wave theory won, and now he says he wants to end the debate, so the third time it seems that the particle theory won.
Is the essence of light particles?
Several physics judges in the first row and many physicists in the back row all shook their heads slightly. They didn't believe that the truth could be so simple.
Professor Case suddenly thought of something and muttered to himself, "Could it be that Bruce Lee really thought so?"
Amidst everyone's confusion and waiting, Li Qiwei finally stopped hiding his intention and continued, "No, I would not say that light is a particle."
"Because Young's double-slit interference experiment and the disk diffraction experiment have both strongly proved the wave nature of light, and no one can refute it."
"So, I think the nature of light is very simple: it is both a wave and a particle."
"Light has both wave and particle properties!"
After saying that, Li Qiwei turned around and wrote three English words on the blackboard behind him: wave-particle duality.
quiet!
The classroom was dead silent.
Everyone was shocked by Li Qiwei's bold idea.
How can an object be both a wave and a particle at the same time? This is completely inconsistent with daily perception and even logic.
Professor Keith stared at Li Qiwei with his big eyes. The other party told him this conclusion last year, but he could not understand it.
"It turns out that light has both properties at the same time. Wave-particle duality is a very apt description."
"Bruce, you really deserve the title of genius! This idea can simply astonish the world!"
At this moment, all the physics teachers and students were trembling with excitement. They were about to witness the birth of a great concept.
This kind of contradictory yet unified beauty is intoxicating. Physics is so interesting.
Li Qiwei looked at the expressions of the crowd. He certainly knew how great an impact the wave-particle duality of light had on physics.
In fact, at the quantum theory conference, a few physics giants should have noticed it, but they didn’t dare to mention it!
Just like the concept of quantum physics, the concept of wave-particle duality is also absurd and completely counterintuitive. Only a physics rookie like Ridgway, who doesn’t know the “highs and lows” of the world, would dare to publicly express this view.
After today, the physics world will once again be swept by a storm because of him, and the wave-particle duality will be officially born!
At the age of 21, Li Qiwei directly ended a debate that lasted for more than years. The nature of light is so magical.
Professor Case couldn't hold back any longer at this moment and took the initiative to ask the first question.
"Bruce, according to what you said, is it possible that the wave-particle duality of light is not the ultimate theory, but a special case of a higher theory?"
Li Qiwei was stunned. It seemed that Professor Case was no ordinary person. This question was very good and difficult to answer.
According to the later quantum field theory, all things are actually stimulated by the field, and waves and particles are just appearances.
Not to mention string theory, everything is produced by the vibration of strings.
But now, none of these could be mentioned, so he said: "Professor Case, your question is very good, but physics is, after all, an experimental science."
"Any theory must be verified by experiments. From my current understanding, I can't find a theory more fundamental than wave-particle duality."
Professor Keith nodded slightly. He understood what Li Qiwei meant. The development of physics must also take into account the limitations of the times.
However, someone still raised an objection, "Bruce, hello, I am a doctor of philosophy at Oxford University, and I have a question for you."
"Please say."
"If, as you say, light has both particle and wave properties, then at a certain moment, this moment is too short for light to have time to switch."
"What is light at this moment? How do we think about this state?"
Li Qiwei nodded slightly. It seems that Oxford also has talents. He said:
"The wave nature of light is easy to understand. Light is a kind of electromagnetic wave, and its fluctuations are manifested as alternating changes in the electromagnetic field."
"But the particle nature of light is not the concept of particles in the macroscopic world. We cannot imagine a single photon as a tiny marble."
"The photon only retains the concept of a classical particle. Its essence is a discontinuous piece of energy."
"Thus, the behavior of individual photons cannot be explained by the laws of Newtonian mechanics."
"When time is an instantaneous value, photons propagate in the form of particles; when time is an average value, photons propagate in the form of waves."
"A large number of photons together will behave as waves, while individual photons will behave as particles."
“Even if you observe light in the same way as detecting waves, light is a wave; if you observe light in the same way as detecting particles, light is a particle.”
"This is determined by the wave-particle duality of light, which is very different from classical physics. You can take it as an axiom."
Li Qiwei also felt that his explanation was difficult to understand, but there was nothing he could do about it, because if he wanted to really explain it clearly, he had to put forward the concept of matter waves.
Any real particle has the wave-particle duality. The movement of microscopic particles requires the use of the Schrödinger equation to explain its essence from the perspective of probability waves.
Light is also a kind of microscopic particle, so its state can be explained by wave function, which is a bit too advanced.
Even more horrifying is the fact that photons are actually gauge bosons that transmit electromagnetic interactions, which is explained by the standard particle model.
The doctor of philosophy was stunned. This was beyond his imagination. A single photon is a particle, but when multiple photons gather together they become waves?
This is too unphilosophical. Could it be that quantitative change leads to qualitative change? At this moment, he wanted to use philosophical logic to explain the wave-particle duality.
I beg you all to collect and read this book.
(End of this chapter)