The first chapter of the history of quantum physics

　

Chapter 1 golden age

I

Our story starts in Germany in 1887. Located by the Rhine River, karsrueu is a beautiful city with a famous 18th century palace in its center. The lush forests and warm climate make this small town a tourist attraction in Europe. However, the pleasant scenery does not seem to distract heinrichrudolf Hertz: He is now playing with his instrument intently in a laboratory at the University of karsrueu. At that time, Hertz was just 30 years old and may not have imagined that he would become a famous character like Hermann vonhelmholtz in the history of science. He would not have imagined that he would be
Benz. His mind is devoted to his device.

Hertz's device seems very simple today: its main part is an electric spark generator, which has two very close Copper Balls as capacitors. Hertz watched the two Copper Balls intently, and closed the circuit switch. Suddenly, the power of electricity began to show in this simple system: the invisible current passed through the induction coil in the device, and began to charge the copper ball capacitor. Hertz watched his device coldly and imagined the rising voltage of the two cuts of the capacitor. After studying in the field of electricity for so long, Hertz has full confidence in his knowledge. He knows that as the voltage rises, the air between the two balls will soon be broken down, then the whole system will form a high-frequency oscillating loop (LC loop), but what he wants to observe now is not this.

Sure enough, after a while, with the slight bang, a bunch of beautiful blue E-flowers burst between two copper balls, and the whole system formed a complete loop, the tiny current bundle keeps twisting in the air, giving rise to a faint fluorescence.

Hertz became even more nervous. He stared at the spark string and the air next to the spark, and imagined a picture after another. He does not want to see how the device generates a spark short circuit. His purpose in this experiment is to verify the existence of the ethereal "Electromagnetic Wave. What kind of thing is it? It's invisible and invisible. No one has ever seen it so far, and it has been verified. However, Hertz firmly believes that it exists because it is a prediction of the Maxwell theory. While the Maxwell theory ...... Oh, it's like a miracle in mathematics! It is like a poem written by God. It is hard to imagine that this theory is wrong. Hertz took a breath and smiled again: No matter how impeccable the theory is, it still needs to be verified through experiments. He stood there and watched it for a while. He thought several times in his heart and finally confirmed that his experiment was correct: If Maxwell was right, therefore, an oscillating electric field should be generated between two copper balls, and an electromagnetic wave spreading outward. Hertz turned his head and put an open copper ring on the other side of the lab, each with a small copper ball. It is the receiver of the electromagnetic wave. If the electromagnetic wave of Maxwell exists, it will pass through the room to the other end, and the receiver will generate an oscillating potential force, in this way, an electric spark is also triggered at the opening of the receiver.

Quietly in the lab, Hertz stood there motionless, as if his eyes had seen the invisible electromagnetic wave crossing the space. The copper ring receiver suddenly looked a little strange. Hertz couldn't help shouting, and he put his nose in front of the copper ring, clearly, there seems to be a faint spark flashing in the air between Two Copper Balls. Hertz quickly ran to the window and pulled all the curtains. Now it is clearer: the gap between the pale blue electroflowers and the copper ring is constantly opening, while the whole copper ring is an isolated system, there is neither a battery connection nor any energy source. Hertz watched for a minute. In his eyes, the blue sparks looked so beautiful. Finally, he blinked his eyes and straightened up his waist: Now there is no need to doubt that the electromagnetic waves actually exist in the space, which inspires the spark on the receiver. He succeeded and successfully solved the question of a reward raised by the German Emy of Sciences in Berlin eight years ago. At the same time, Maxwell's theory also won, A new peak in physics-electromagnetic theory was finally established. Michael
Faraday) laid the foundation for it, and the great Maxwell built its subject, and today, he -- the great Hertz -- capped the building.

Hertz carefully moved the receiver to different locations, and the electromagnetic wave performance and theoretical prediction were not satisfactory. According to the experimental data, Hertz obtains the wavelength of the electromagnetic wave. Multiply it by the oscillating frequency of the circuit to calculate the forward velocity of the electromagnetic wave. This value is exactly equal to 0.3 million km/h, that is, the speed of light. The amazing predictions of Maxwell confirm that the original electromagnetic waves are not mysterious at all. The light we see at ordinary times is a kind of electromagnetic waves, but its frequency is limited within a certain range, but we can see it.

In any sense, this is an amazing discovery. The ancient optics can finally be completely contained in the emerging electromagnetism, and the conclusion that "only one kind of electromagnetic waves" is, finally, it seems that the long-standing question of light nature cannot be overturned (we are about to look at this long-drawn-out great war ). The electromagnetic wave reflection, diffraction and interference experiments were made soon. These experiments further confirm the consistency between the electromagnetic wave and the light wave, which is undoubtedly a great achievement of the electromagnetic theory.

Hertz's name can finally be engraved in the hall of fame of the history of science. However, as a purely serious scientist, hertz did not think of the commercial significance of his findings at the time. In the laboratory at the University of karsruer, he only thought about how to be closer to the ultimate mysteries of nature, and did not expect his experiment to bring about a revolution of the times. Hertz died early in the year, less than 37 years old, he left this fascinating world. However, just that year, a 20-year-old Italian who was on vacation in the lunbadi city read his paper on electromagnetic waves. Two years later, the young man had performed radio communications in public, and soon his company was founded and successfully obtained a patent license. In 1901, 7th years after Hertz's death, wireless telegraph had been able to traverse the Atlantic Ocean, achieving real-time communication between the two locations. This young man from Italy is Guglielmo Marni.
Marconi) at the same time, Aleksandr Popov of Russia has made the same contribution in the wireless communication field. They set off a revolutionary storm and brought the whole of mankind into a new "Information Age ". I don't know what it will do if Hz is behind me?

But still think Hertz will only smile at it. He is a pure scientist who regards the pursuit of truth as the greatest value of life. I'm afraid that even if he thinks of the Commercial Prospect of electromagnetic waves, he will not bother to put it into practice? Maybe, walking in the beautiful forest and Lake, thinking about the ultimate mysteries of nature, and discussing academic issues with students on the fall fallen leaves campus, is his real life. Today, his name has become the unit of the frequency physical quantity, which is constantly mentioned by everyone. However, maybe he still thinks we are disturbing his peace?

II

Last time we said that in 1887, Hertz's experiment confirmed the existence of electromagnetic waves and confirmed that light is actually a kind of electromagnetic waves. Both of them share the same wave characteristics. This makes the battle for the nature of light come to an end that seems to be unchangeable.

Here, we have to go back and review the Battle of light through time and space. This may be the longest and most intense debate in the history of physics. It almost runs through the entire development of modern physics, and has never been wiped out in history.

Light is the thing that everyone sees the most ("the most seen" is really good here ). It has been taken for granted as one of the most primitive things of the universe since ancient times. In ancient mythology, the world started to run as "a light" splits chaos and darkness. In people's minds, light always represents life, vitality, and hope. In the Bible, what God wants to create the world first is light, which shows its unique position in the universe.

But what is light? Or is it something?

In ancient times, it seems that people do not regard light as a real thing. light and darkness are just different environments. It was only in ancient Greece that scientists began to pay close attention to the rising light. One thing is certain: the reason why we can see things is because the light works in it. People imagine that it is something that is emitted from our eyes. When it reaches something, it is seen by us. For example, Empedocles considers that the world is composed of four elements: Water, Fire, gas, and Earth. The eyes of a person are ignited by fire by the goddess Aphrodite, when the fire element (that is, light. In ancient times, light and fire were not counted. When people sprayed out to an object in their eyes, we could see things.

But obviously, this explanation is not enough. It can explain why we can see it with our eyes wide, but it cannot explain why we can't see anything even with our eyes wide. To solve this problem, people have introduced much more complicated assumptions. For example, three different types of light come from the eyes, the objects to be seen and the light source, and the visual view is the result of the combination of the three.

This assumption is undoubtedly too complicated. In the era of Rome, Lucretius, a great scholar, proposed in his immortal book "physical theory" that light is directed from the light source to the eyes of talents, however, his point of view is never accepted by people. The correct understanding of light imaging was proposed by a Persian scientist al-Haytham around 1000 AD: the reason why we were able to see objects, only because the light is reflected from an object into our eyes. He put forward a lot of evidence to prove this, the most powerful of which is the small hole Imaging Experiment. When we see the light passing through the small hole, it becomes a inverted image, we have no doubt about the correctness of this statement.

People started to study the properties of light for a long time. Based on the assumption that light always goes straight, Euclidean (Euclid) studies the reflection of light in catoptrica. Ptolemy, Hasan, and Johannes Kepler have both studied the refraction of light. based on their work, Snell summed up the law of refraction of light in 1621. Finally, the nature of light is finally summed up by Pierre de Fermat, called the King of amateur mathematics, as a simple law, that is, "light always follows the Shortest Path ". Optics have finally been formally established as a physical discipline.

However, when people are familiar with all kinds of optical behavior, there is still a basic problem that cannot be solved: "What is light essentially ?" This question does not seem to be so difficult to answer, but people may not think that the inquiry into this question will be so long-drawn, and this exploration process, the impact on physics would be so far-reaching and significant, and its significance exceeded the imagination of anyone at that time.

People in ancient Greece always tend to regard light as a very small particle stream. In other words, light is composed of a very small "Light Atom. On the one hand, this idea is very consistent with the popular element at that time. On the other hand, people at that time did not know much about other material forms except particles. This theory is called the micrograin theory of light ". The micro-grain statement is intuitively justified. First, it can explain why light always advances along a straight line and why it is strictly and classic reflection, even refraction can be explained by the speed changes of particle streams in different media. But particle said there are also some obvious difficulties: for example, it is hard to say why the two beam beams do not pop up when they collide with each other, and people cannot know why, where are these tiny light particles hidden before they are lit? Can they be infinitely large.

When the dark ages passed, people had a better understanding of the natural world. Volatility has been deeply understood and researched, and voice is a kind of volatility that is gradually accepted by people. People began to doubt: Since the sound is a wave, why can't light be a wave? In the early 17th century, des cartes first proposed the possibility in one of the three appendixes of his methodology: Light is a pressure, spread in media. Shortly after, an Italian mathematics professor, francescomaria Grimaldi, made an experiment by letting a bunch of light go through two small holes and then onto the screen in the dark room, it is found that there is an image with bright and dark stripes on the projection edge. Greemadi immediately associated with the diffraction of water waves (which we should have seen in the illustrations of physical science in middle school), and proposed that light may be a kind of water wave fluctuation, this is the earliest expression of light wave.

It is believed that light is not a material particle, but a wave generated by the vibration of the media. Let's imagine a water wave. It is not a practical transfer, but a result of the vibration of the water surface along the way. The fluctuation of light easily explains the light and shade stripes in the projection, and easily explains that the beam can pass through each other without interference. With regard to linear propagation and reflection, people quickly realized that the wavelength of light is very short, and in most cases, the behavior of light is still the same as that of classical particles. The diffraction experiment further proves this point. However, there is a basic difficulty in the theory of motion, that is, any fluctuation requires media to be transmitted. For example, sound cannot be transmitted in a vacuum. However, it does not seem that it can go forward without any media. To give a simple example, Starlight can pass through almost nothing space to the Earth, which is obviously very unfavorable to the movement. However, the dynamic statement cleverly frees you from this problem: it assumes that an invisible media is used to transmit light. This media has a very loud and impressive name, it is called "aether ).

In such a wonderful atmosphere, the sound of light was on the stage of history. We will soon see that this new force seems to have been a poor family in the past, and it is destined to launch a century-long war with the latter. The fate of the two of them is always intertwined. If there is no other party, no one can say that they are still complete. Later, they simply existed for the sake of their opponent. The beginning of this wonderful drama, after two ups and downs, reached a dazzling climax. In the end, the wonderful ending tells us that their conversation is almost an inevitable fate. In the middle of the 17th century, it was the last darkness before the dawn of science. No one could predict that these two sparks would soon trigger a raging fire.

* ******* After dinner, let's talk about "Aether ).

As we have seen above, ethereum was initially proposed as a light-wave media assumption. However, the term "ethereum" came from ancient Greece: Aristotle elaborated on his understanding of the celestial body in the book "On heaven. He believes that the sun, the moon, and the stars run around the Earth, but their composition is different from the four main elements on the ground, water, fire, and gas. Things in the sky should be perfect. They can only be made up of a more pure element, which is the so-called "fifth element" of Aristotle-ethereum (Greek Alpha θ P ). Since this concept was borrowed from science, the history of ethereum has been quite subtle. On the one hand, it once played such an important role and thus became the basis of the entire Physics; on the other hand, when its glory was no longer, it was also ridiculed. Although it is unwilling to struggle over and over again, changing its head and giving itself new meaning, it still cannot escape the fate of being abandoned, and even has become a special word of pseudoscience for some time. However, in any case, the concept of ethereum still occupies its position in the history of science. It once represented the light media and the absolute reference system. Although it has withdrawn from the stage, it can still arouse our nostalgia for that golden age. It is like a pornographic photo that records the glorious past of the nobility. Today, Ethernet is another concept used to name a network protocol (Ethernet). When I see this word, does it give birth to a sigh?

Pay tribute to ethereum.

3.

The last time we talked about what light is, there were two possible assumptions in the middle of the 17th century: micrograin and mobile.

However, at the beginning, the armed forces on both sides were very weak. Although the micro-grain theory has a long history, its power in hand is very limited. The direct propagation of light and reflection and refraction of light are originally the traditional regions of light. However, when the army developed its own theory, it quickly moved to the two battlefields to share the same color with the particles. The theory of volatility is a new theory. The light diffraction experiment of grimadi is the biggest magic weapon for its launch, but it dragged on a heavy burden, that is, the assumption of light and Ethernet, this imaginary media will become a burden of fluctuating troops for a long time.

There was no armed conflict between the two forces at first. In the methodology of flute, they are still standing together in a calm manner for review. The fuse that caused the "first microwave war" to break out is boyier (Robert Boyle, a friend who has learned the law of pomma in middle school, must remember this nasty Irish man ?) A theory proposed in 1663. He believes that the various colors we see are not actually the attributes of objects, but the effects produced by illumination. This argument has nothing to do with particle fluctuations, but has aroused heated debate on the color attributes.

In the eyes of gleemadi, the difference in color is caused by the different frequencies of light waves. His experiment attracted interest from Robert Hoke. Hooku was originally a lab assistant to poyier, a member of the Royal Society of England, and also a lab administrator. He repeat greemadi's work and carefully observes the colors mapped by light in the soap bubble and the radiance of light over the thin masterbatch. According to his judgment, light must be a fast pulse, so he explicitly supported the theory of motion in the book Micrographia published in 1665. The book "microscopy" soon won a worldwide academic reputation for Hu Ke, and it seems that the addition of this general has also gained the upper hand.

However, I don't know whether it is an accident or my own arrangement. A seemingly unrelated thing has changed the development of the entire war.

In 1672, a young man called Isaac Newton submitted a paper to the Royal Society Review Board called the new theory of light and color. Newton was only 30 years old and was just elected as a member of the Royal Society. This is Newton's first formal scientific paper about the dispersion experiment of light, which is also one of Newton's most famous experiments. The experiment was rendered very impressive in some scientific books: Newton stayed in a hut with a thick wig in the hot and unbearable summer. All the windows on all sides were closed, the room was stuffy, hot, dark, and only a bunch of light was shot in from a small hole. Despite the rain, Newton concentrated around the house, and from time to time put a prism in his hand into the small hole. When the prism is inserted, the original white light disappears, and on the wall of the house, a long color broadband is mapped: The color ranges from red to purple. With this experiment, Newton came to the conclusion that white light is a mixture of colorful light.

However, in this paper, Newton compared the combination and decomposition of light to the mixing and separation of particles of different colors. Hu KE and boyier were the members of the Panel, and they attacked this idea fiercely. Hulk claims that the correct part of Newton's paper (that is, the combination of colors) is to steal his ideas in 1665, while Newton's "original" micrograin is not worth mentioning. Newton immediately withdrew his paper and angrily declared that he would not publish any research results.

In fact, before that, Newton's point of view was still swinging between particles and fluctuations, and he did not completely deny the theory of motion. In 1665, when Hu ke published his opinion, Newton had just graduated from Trinity College in Cambridge. Maybe he was still thinking about his gravity in front of the apple tree. However, after that, Newton began to support micrograins in one aspect. This is because of revenge, or because of the spirit of science. We can't know it today. I think there are two reasons for this. However, Newton's character is famous for being stingy and careless, which is also evident in his later debate with laveniz on the invention of calculus.

However, on the one hand, because of Hu Ke's fame, on the other hand, because Newton's attention is more transferred to the aspect of kinematics and mechanics, newton has not yet formally demonstrated the particle theory in a comprehensive way (just refuted Hu KE in several papers ). At this time, the volatility army began their modernization process-using theory to equip themselves. Christiaan Huygens, a Dutch physicist, has become the main speaker of the wave theory.

In terms of mathematics theory, Hui Yu is a very talented person. He inherited Hu Ke's idea and thought that light is a P-wave transmitted in the ethereum and introduced the concept of "wave forward, we have successfully proved and derived the law of reflection and refraction of light. Although his volatility theory is still rough, his success is remarkable. At that time, with the deepening of optical research, new battlefields were constantly opened up: In 1665, Newton found in his experiment that if the light would be directed to an optical flat glass panel through a large curvature convex lens, you will see a set of colored concentric ring stripes in the contact between the lens and the glass panel, that is, the famous "Ox ton ring" (those interested in images and photography must know ). In 1669, E. bartholinus (Denmark) discovered that the light would be bilineed when it was passed through the crystal of tungsten. Hui Yun applied his theory to these new discoveries and found that his fluctuating army could easily occupy these new positions. He only needed a small restructuring (such as introducing the concept of elliptical wave ). In 1690, huizhen's book "light theory" (traite)
De la lumiere) published, marking the wave that at this stage reached a prosperous vertex.

Unfortunately, the current wave of volatility seems destined to be a flash bubble. Because they stood in a brilliant great figure: Mr. Isaac Newton (and will soon become a jazz ). The scientific giant, for whatever reason, has decided to give a relentless and fatal blow to a mobile army. In order to avoid further disputes with Hu KE and unnecessary misunderstanding, Newton made a careful tactical arrangement. It wasn't until the second year after Hook's death, that is, in 1704 that Newton published his brilliant masterpiece opticks ). In this epoch-making work, Newton elaborated in detail on the Color superposition and dispersion of light, from the perspective of particles to explain the film light transmission, the niudon ring and the phenomena found in the diffraction experiment. He refuted the volatility theory and questioned why the obstacle could not be bypassed if the light was just like a sonic wave. He has also studied the phenomenon of bilinex and raised many problems that cannot be explained by the fluctuation theory. While Newton solved the basic difficulties of particles with his talents. He absorbed many things from his volatility opponents, such as introducing some useful concepts of wave, such as vibration and cycle, to the particle theory, thus solving the problems of the Norton ring well. On the other hand, Newton combined the particle theory with his mechanical system, which immediately showed unparalleled power.

This is a terrible blow. At that time, Newton was no longer the young man who could be questioned at the review. At that time, Newton, who had published the principle of mathematics, had invented calculus. At that time, he was already a member of Parliament, President of the Royal Society, and had become a mythical character in the history of science. Around the world, people worship his mechanical system, as if to see God's revelation. As the saying goes, this army, which lost its leaders, has not yet been able to build several solid bastion hosts on the territory. They were shocked and broke into the army, and almost lost all positions overnight. On the one hand, it is because of the limitations of its own fortifications, and its theory is still not perfect. On the other hand, it is also because the opponent's strength is too powerful: Newton is the battle of the optical world, his talents and authority cannot be questioned. The first microwave war ended with a fluctuating fiasco. The result of the war was that the grain theory firmly occupies the mainstream of the physical world. Volatility was forced to go underground, and it could not be lifted for a whole century. However, it is still not wiped out, and the pioneering work done by Hui and others makes it still have tenacious vitality, quietly waiting for another day.

* ******** Gossip after meals: Hu KE and Newton

Hu KE and Newton are also a happy family in history. Both of them have made great contributions in mechanics, optics, and instruments. They are inspired by each other, but there are also a lot of debates between them. In addition to the debate on the nature of light, there is also a dispute between them, that is, who found the law of the square inverse ratio of universal gravitation. Hu ke spent a lot of effort in mechanics and planetary movement. He studied the kepulle law in depth and proposed in 1964 that the planetary orbit was bent into an elliptic due to gravity. In 1674, he proposed the theory of planetary motion based on the corrected inertial principle. In his letter to Newton in 1679, he proposed the concept that gravity is inversely proportional to the square of distance, but it is vague and not quantified :... Mysupposition
Is that the attraction always is in a duplicate proportion to thedistance from the center reciprocal ). After Newton's theory was published, Hu ke demanded that he give priority to his discovery of this Law, however, Newton's final answer was to delete all references related to Hu Ke from principle.

It should be said that Hu Ke is also a great scientist. He helped his ears to discover the laws of his ears and discovered the cells of plants with his own microscope, his work in Geology (especially the observation of fossils) has influenced this discipline for 30 years, he invented and manufactured instruments (such as a microscope, an air pump, a clockwork wheel, and a wheel-shaped pressure gauge) that were unparalleled at that time. The law of elasticity he discovered is one of the most important laws of mechanics. In that era, he was second only to Newton's great scientists in mechanics and optics, but it seems that he will always live in the shadows of Newton. Today, Newton is famous all over the world, but today's middle school students only know Hu Ke's name from the Hu Ke's law (elastic law) in the textbook. Hu Ke's death has become cynical, and the lines are full of sarcasm. After his death, he did not even have a portrait left behind. It is said that he was "too ugly ".

Thu

Last said, in the first confrontation between particles and fluctuations, the microparticles, headed by Newton, defeated the fluctuations and achieved a universally recognized physical position.

In a twinkling of an eye, nearly a century has passed. The status of the Newton system has been so lofty that it cannot help but feel dizzy. The idea of being just a particle he advocated has become so deeply rooted in the hearts of the people that people almost forget the existence of their opponent.

However, in, a boy named Thomas Young was born in the family of Milverton, England ). The history of this future rebel leaders is a typical process of genius. when he was two years old, he was able to read various classics and began to learn Latin at the age of six, I wrote an autobiography in Latin at the age of 14. At the age of 16, he was able to speak 10 languages, he also studied Newton's mathematical principles and lavaxy's chemistry outline and other scientific works.

At the age of 19, Yang was influenced by his uncle as a doctor and decided to study medicine in London. In the days to come, he went to the University of Edinburgh and Gottingen, and finally went back to the university of imanneur in Cambridge to end his studies. When he was a student, Yang studied the structure of human eyes, began to come into contact with some basic optical problems, and eventually formed his idea of fluctuating light. Yang's understanding is derived from the so-called "interference" Phenomenon in volatility.

We all know that common substances are accumulative. a single drop of water and a single drop of water must be two drops of water, and will not disappear together. But volatility is different. A common wave has a wave peak and A wave bottom. If the two waves meet each other, when they happen to be at a peak, then the superimposed wave will reach a peak of two times. If both are at a low point, the result of the superposition will be the bottom of the valley of two times. But wait, what if a column of waves is at its peak and another column is at its bottom?

The answer is that they offset each other. If the two columns meet in such a situation (physically called "inverse"), the overlap will be flattened like a mirror, with neither peak nor bottom. This is like pulling you to the left by one person, and pulling you to the right by the same effort by the other person. The result is that you will not move in place.

Thomas Yang was deeply touched by the idea of volatility while studying the dark and dark stripes of the ox ton ring. Why is a dark stripe formed? An idea gradually formed in Yang's mind: Isn't it easy to explain with waves? Bright, because the two lights are exactly the same, and their peaks and troughs are mutually reinforcing, the result is two times brighter (as if two people pull you on the left or right at the same time), and those dark stripes must be in the reversed phase ", their peaks and troughs are offset by each other (as if two people pull you on both sides at the same time ). Yang was excited by this bold and imaginative insight. He immediately started a series of experiments and published papers in 1801 and 1803 respectively, this article explains how to use the Interference Effect of light waves to explain the niutun ring and diffraction phenomena. Even through his experimental data, the wavelength of the calculated light should be between 1/36000 and 60000 inch.

In 1807, Yang summarized and published his handout on natural philosophy, which comprehensively organized his work on optics and described his famous experiment for the first time: double slit interference of light. Later, history proved that this experiment can be listed in the first five most classic experiments in the history of physics. Today, it has appeared in every textbook of middle school physics.

Yang's experimental method is extremely simple: put a candle in front of a piece of paper with a small hole open, thus forming a light source (from a point ). Now put another piece of paper behind the paper. The difference is that the second piece of paper has two parallel slit. The light emitted from a small hole is pushed to the screen through two troughs, forming a series of bright and dark stripes, which are now well known as interference stripes.

Yang's book ignited the fuse of the revolution, and the "second microwave war" in the history of physics began. After a hundred years of silence, the fluctuating army finally returned to the stage of history. However, it was not a good day at that time. In the age when the army of particles was still unified, the fluctuating soldiers were in disorder and lacked support. They could only rely on guerrilla warfare to attract people's attention to it. Yang's paper began to get ridiculed and ironic by the authority. He was attacked as "Absurd" and "illogical", and no one cares about it in the last 20 years. Yang wrote a thesis in order to refute it, but he had nowhere to publish it. He had to print it into a booklet, But it is said that "only one copy was sold" after the publication ".

However, although proud particles are still immersed in the glory of the Newton age, the uprising's fluctuating rebels were not put in the eyes at the beginning. But they soon discovered that although the number of the rebels was not very large and their costumes were not so neat, their weapons were not the same. After several heavy blows, the lethal force of the fluctuating cannon, the Interference Stripe, finally shocked the whole particle army. The evidence of this simple and clever experiment is conclusive and almost cannot be refuted. No matter how hard the particle works, it cannot avoid the relentless bombing of the opponent: It is hard to explain how the two lights are combined to cause darkness. The reason for fluctuation is simple and direct: the distance between two small holes and a certain point on the screen may be different. When the distance is an integer of the wavelength, the two optical waves strengthen each other to form a bright spot. Otherwise, when the Distance Difference happens to cause a phase difference of half a wavelength, the two waves offset each other, causing a dark point. The distance between the bright stripe calculated theoretically is the same as that of the experiment.

After the decline, the particles finally found that they could not resist the attack of the other party. Therefore, it adopts a defense strategy. A lot of experimental evidence that is unfavorable to the theory of motion is presented to prove the contradiction in the theory of motion. Among them, the most well-known is the polarization phenomenon discovered by Etienne louismalus in 1809, which is in conflict with known volatility theories. The two rivals began to disagree, but they did not give up their confidence to win. Yang said in a letter to Maros: "... Your experiment only proves that my theory is flawed, but it does not prove that it is false ."

The decisive moment came in 1819. The final battle originated from a reward Essay Competition of the French Emy of Sciences in 1818. The subject of the competition is to use precision experiments to determine the diffraction effect of light and to derive the motion of light passing near an object. The Competition Jury is composed of many well-known scientists, including bio (J. b. biot), Laplace (Pierre Simon de Laplace) and Poisson (S. d. they are all advocates of positive microblogs. The intention of organizing this competition is to explain the diffraction and motion of light through the theory of particle theory to combat the theory of fluctuation.

However, this is dramatic. Augustin Fresnel, an unknown young French engineer, was 31 years old and submitted a paper on the interaction of polarized light to the organizing committee. In this paper, fresh adopts the viewpoint that light is a kind of fluctuation, but it is revolutionary to think that light is a kind of shear wave (that is, similar to water waves, the vibrator acts a wave of relative transmission direction vertical motion) unlike what Huke has always considered as a type of longitudinal wave (similar to the spring wave, the vibrator acts as a wave of horizontal motion in the relative propagation direction ). Starting from this idea, he successfully explained the diffraction of light with rigorous mathematical reasoning and solved the polarization problem that has plagued the theory of motion. His system was complete, and the members of the Committee were amazed. Poisson did not believe this conclusion and carefully reviewed it. It was found that when this theory was applied to the disc diffraction, a bright spot would appear in the middle of the shadow. This is ridiculous in Poisson's view. How can there be bright spots in the middle of the shadow? This almost left freell's paper dead. However, fresh's colleague, araguo (Franois
Arago) insisted on conducting experimental tests at critical moments. The results showed that there was a bright spot that appeared in the center of the disc shadow like a miracle. The position brightness and theoretical fit were quite perfect.

The victory of freell's theory became the decisive event of the second microwave war. He won the Grand Prix award and became a legend in the optical world that can rival Newton and huirun. The highlight in the middle of the shadow of the disc (which was later known as the "Poisson highlight") became a powerful weapon in the hands of the wave army, not to interfere with the stripe, and gave the particle power a fatal blow. The beacon fire of the author soon swept through all fields of Optics and drove down the particles from the dominant position. The latter was overwhelmed by a severe blow, and the festival collapsed. In the middle of the 19th century, the only hope for restoring the war is the determination of light speed in water. Because according to particle theory, this speed should be faster than the speed of light in the vacuum, and according to the fluctuation theory, this speed should be slower than in the vacuum.

However, unfortunately, the particle army finally ushered in its Waterloo in 1819 after the harsh winter in Moscow in 1850. In May 6 of the Year, Foucault, who was later known for his "Fu kependulum" experiment, submitted his report on the speed of light measurement experiment to the French Emy of sciences. After accurately obtaining the velocity of light in the vacuum, he also measured the speed of light in the water and found that this value is less than the velocity in the vacuum. This result completely pronounced the death penalty in micrograins. The volatility theory was finally successful after more than 100 years, and became the throne of physics. In the cheers of the winner, the second microwave war ended with the defeat of particles.

However, there is still a small internal difficulty in volatility, that is, the Ethernet problem. The fact that the light is a shear wave is already very clear, and its propagation speed has also been accurately measured. This value reaches 0.3 million km/h, which is an amazing high speed. Through the traditional theory of volatility, we can surely obtain the nature of its media: This media must be very hard, and it is several times harder than the hardest material diamond. However, the fact is that no one has ever seen or touched this "ethereum", nor has it been tested by experiments. The Stars travel hundreds of millions of kilometers of ethereum to the earth. However, these tough ethereys cannot block the movements of any planet or comet, even the smallest!

Volatility explains that ethereum is a rigid particle, but it is so thin that material passes through them almost without any resistance, "It's like the wind goes through a small jungle," (Thomas Yang ). Ethereum is also absolutely static in a vacuum, and can be partially dragged only in a transparent object (the partial drag hypothesis of the fresh ).

This is actually very far-fetched, but it is not long before the dynamic statement is confused. Because a more exciting victory is coming soon. The great Maxwell published three papers on Electromagnetic Theory in, And. This is a ground-breaking work. It has completely built another giant structure on the building of Newton's mechanics, moreover, its brilliance is no less brilliant than that of the former. Maxwell's theory predicts that light is actually only a kind of electromagnetic waves. This text was written in italic in his second essay on physical force in 1861. At the beginning of this chapter, we have seen how Hertz proved this prediction by experiment in 1887. It was suddenly discovered that it was not only the ruler of the field of light, but has become the highest commander of the whole electromagnetic kingdom. The radiance of volatility has reached the vertices. As long as you stand on the Earth, its power is as endless and insurmountable as the giants in ancient Greek mythology. The earth it relies on is the immortal electromagnetic theory of Maxwell.

* ******* Gossip after dinner: the pity of araguo (dominiquefran OIS Jean Arago)

Alaguo has always been the defender of the optical wave theory, and he and fresh have long-term optical cooperation. The idea of the Light shear wave came from a letter from Thomas Yang to araguo. The Study on the coherence of two vertical polarized light beams is jointly developed by him and fresh. Their work clarifies the two beams from the same light source but perpendicular to each other on the polarization plane, interference is not allowed. However, in terms of refraction and polarization, fresh is obviously more courageous and revolutionary. After the two have completed the paper "the interaction of polarized light, fresh points out that only a shear wave can be used to fully interpret these phenomena and give a derivation. However, alaguo was skeptical about this and thought that the fresh had gone too far. He told fresh frankly that he did not have the courage to express his point of view and refused to post his name behind this part of the paper. As a result, fresh finally submitted this part in the name of himself, causing the vibration of the Emy of Sciences. The final experiment showed that he was right.

This is probably the greatest regret of araguo's life. He had the opportunity to become a famous character in the history of science like fresh. At that time, fresh was still an unknown minor, but he was well-known in academic circles. When he was elected to the French Research Institute, he even received more votes than the famous Poisson. In fact, in terms of the optical wave theory, alaguo has made many outstanding contributions. Many of them are inspired by each other, not under the fresh. In the face of Poisson's question, alaguo was still standing on the side of the fresh. His experiment confirmed the existence of the Poisson spot, which made the wave theory the final victory. But the hesitation at the crucial time eventually led him to lose the title of "father of Physical Optics. This crown is now placed on the head of fresh.

V.

As we said last time, the theory of Maxwell was confirmed by the Hertz experiment, the wave of light finally became a fact on the board.

Volatility is so powerful now. Thanks to the power of the mcs' theory, it has completely knocked down the particles and soon began to expand to Xinjiang to create an unprecedented empire. Soon after, its territory spans the entire electromagnetic wave frequency band, from microwave to x-ray, from ultraviolet to infrared, from gamma rays to radio waves ...... Normal light is just a small country under its rule. The fluctuations are king upon the world, zhenchangce and Yu, among the four seas. The poor particles have vanished, and it seems that they will never be able to turn over.

Hertz's experiment also marks the peak of classical physics. The building of physics has never been so magnificent. Newton's mechanical system has been so magnificent, and now Maxwell has built another building of the same size on top of it, its brilliant light makes people almost dare not look up. Electromagnetic Theory is incredible in mathematics. The famous Ms' equations have just been amazed by the world. The depth, symmetry, and beauty of it make every scientist intoxicated by it. Ludwig Boltzmann could not help but quote Goethe's verse and said, "Is this what God wrote ?" Until today, the Ms' equations have been widely recognized by people even before Hertz experiments have been proven. Many great scientists are impressed by its charm and deeply influenced by it. They have a firm belief in the beauty of science and even believe that for a scientific theory, concise and elegant is more important than accurate experiment data. In any sense, electromagnetic theory is a great theory. Roger ponse (Roger
In his book the Emperor's new mind, Penrose does not hesitate to associate it with Newton's mechanics, relativity, and quantum theory, it is called "superb" theory.

Physics conquered the world. At the end of the 19th century, its power controls all what people know. The ancient Newton's mechanical Castle, after years of grinding, has always stood firm, but it has become even more powerful and powerful. From the planet in the sky to the rock on the ground, all things must follow its rules with respect. The discovery of Neptune in 1846 is one of the greatest victories it has ever achieved. In terms of optics, fluctuations have been unified throughout the world, and the new electromagnetic theory has extended its glory to the whole electromagnetic world. In terms of heat, the three major laws of thermodynamic have been basically established (the third law has taken shape), while in Rudolph clowsius. d. van derwaals
The molecular movement theory and statistical thermodynamic have also been successfully established with the efforts of other geniuses. What's even more surprising is that all of these are in line with each other and are mutually inclusive, forming a large consortium of classical physics. Classical Mechanics, classic electrodynamics, and classical thermodynamic (plus statistical mechanics) form three pillars of the physical world. They are closely combined to build a magnificent and magnificent palace.

This is a great and glorious day and a golden age of classic physics. The power of science seems to have never been so powerful, so fascinating. People may finally be able to believe that the mysteries of God's creations have been fully mastered by them, and there is no omission. From that time on, we may indeed be qualified to be so proud, because almost all the physical phenomena we know can be explained from off-the-shelf theories. Force, heat, light, electricity, magnetic ...... Everything is under control, and the same method is used. Physicists began to believe that all the basic principles of the world have been discovered, and physics has been perfect. It has reached its own limits and reached its own end, and there will no longer be any breakthrough progress. If there is anything to do, it is to correct and supplement some details to measure some common values more accurately. People tend to think that physics has ended, and all problems can be solved using this integrated system without any truly exciting discoveries. "The future of physics will only be searched after the sixth decimal place," said a famous scientist (said to be the great Lord kairvin ". His mentor even advised him not to waste time studying this highly mature system.

The sky of physics at the end of the 19th century is shining with gold, symbolizing the age of classical physical empire. Such a great period is unprecedented in the history of science. However, this powerful unified empire is doomed to flash in the flash. The hustle and bustle of the moment, after all, will be like the bubble burst withered.

Looking back today, Hertz's electromagnetic wave experiment in (accurately speaking, a series of experiments he conducted in-) should be complex and far-reaching. On the one hand, it has completely established the electromagnetic field theory, adding a strong stroke to the prosperity of classical physics; on the other hand, it has at the same time buried a weapon that promotes the destruction of classical physics itself, it gave birth to the seeds of the revolution.

Let's go back to the first part of our story: in the laboratory at the University of karsrue, the gap between the Hertz copper ring receiver keeps popping up with spark, clearly shows the existence of electromagnetic waves.

But by accident, Hertz found another strange phenomenon: When light shines on this gap, it seems that sparks are more likely to appear.

Hertz also wrote this discovery as a paper, but it didn't attract much attention at the time. At that time, scholars were excited for the success of the electromagnetic field theory. marmanes were excited for a huge business opportunity. No one thought of the true significance of this paper. Even Hertz did not know that evidence of quantum existence was at his fingertips. However, perhaps the concept of quantum is too explosive, too revolutionary, and fate has arranged for it to appear in the new century, leave nostalgia and classics to the old century. It is a pity that Hertz went too early to see its birth with his own eyes, and did not witness what changes it was about to bring to the world.

Finally, before classical physics could appreciate its flourishing history, a series of unexpected things occurred continuously in the last few years of the 19th century, as if it were an ominous omen.

In 1895, Wilhelm Konrad Rontgen discovered X-rays. In 1896, Antoine herni Becquerel discovered the radioactive phenomenon of uranium. In 1897, Mrs Curie (Marie Curie) and her husband, Pierre Curie, studied the radiation and discovered more radioactive elements, such as thorl, Radix, and lei. In 1897, J. J. Thomas (Joseph Thomson) considered the cathode ray as a negative particle flow after studying it. Electronics have been discovered. In 1899, Ernest Rutherford discovered the evolution of elements.

So many new discoveries have emerged one after another, which is dazzling. Everyone began to feel a kind of anxiety, and it seemed that there was a major event about to happen. The building of physics still stands and looks so magnificent, so it cannot be broken, but the atmosphere suddenly becomes very dignified, and a feeling of oppression is spreading in people's hearts. The new century is coming soon. People do not know what is going to happen and where history is going. Looking at the sky, people can see two small clouds, which are so inconspicuous. No one knows that they are about to bring about a storm and completely erase everything in the old world from the earth.

However, before the storm came, let us look up and look at the sky of the golden age as the last miss. The golden light shines on our faces and brings everything to the holy color. The building of classical physics is so solemn and magnificent and colorful that it reminds us of the everlasting Palace of Zeus and God on the mount of Olympus. Who would think of it? It was the last glow of the sun cast on the land of a huge empire.