Young's DoubleSlit Experiment The first serious challenge to the particle theory of light was made by the English scientist Thomas Young in 1803 Young possessed one of the most brilliant minds in the history of science A physician by training, he was the first to describe how the lens of the human eye changes shape in order to focus on objects at differing distances He also studiedThe experiment is shown below Young's doubleslit experiment arrangement When a monochromatic light source is placed behind a single slit, the light is diffracted producing two light sources at the double slits A and B Since both light sources originate from the same primary source, they are coherent and will therefore create an observableIn the doubleslit experiment, light is shone at a solid thin plate that has two slits cut into it A photographic plate is set up to record what comes through those slits One or the other slit may be open, or both may be open When only one slit is open, the pattern on the plate is a diffraction pattern, a fairly narrow central band and dimmer bands parallel to it on each side
The Double Slit Experiment Physics World
