Chapter 575: Chapter 502 Photoelectric Effect and the World is Wavy!
After Jeffrey had spoken, the apprentices immediately got busy.
With the assistance of magic, modifying the baffle was an easy task, taking only a few minutes to complete.
The baffle changed from having one hole to two holes, and its shape was altered from round to square.
When the intense beam of light shot out from the emitter and passed through two extremely fine slits, everyone present showed a look of astonishment on their faces.
Because on the black wall behind the holes, there appeared nine fairly clear rectangular spots of light, with the one in the center being the brightest and those on either side diminishing in brightness in turn.
“Why are there so many spots of light?”
The apprentice who had made the suggestion just now was suddenly stunned in place. If light truly traveled in straight lines, then one beam of light passing through two holes at the same time should also produce only two corresponding light spot stripes on the wall that matched the shape of the holes.
Even if the light underwent refraction after hitting an object, such a peculiar phenomenon should not occur—let alone the fact that the brightest light spot was actually located in the center between the two holes, which completely defied common sense,
This discovery also filled Jeffrey with incredible surprise. He had a vague notion in his mind of what it might mean, but could not quite grasp the crucial point.
“It’s like water waves…” the short-statured wizard next to him muttered to himself.
Jeffrey froze for a moment, then turned his head and grabbed the wizard’s collar, questioning him excitedly. “Water waves? What water waves?”
The short-statured wizard, startled by Jeffrey’s sudden excitement, stammered in response. “The ripples of water, Teacher…”
“Show me what you just said about water waves… now!” Jeffrey released the wizard and used “Mage’s Hand” to pull over a basin of water onto the table, speaking excitedly.
The short-statured wizard didn’t dare to delay, and took one of the double-holed baffles from the lab, placing it in the basin, leaving it still for a few minutes. Once the water in the basin had completely calmed down, he touched the surface with his finger.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone present, waves rippled out from the center where the finger touched, spreading in all directions, quickly reaching the slits in the baffle.
The vibrating waves, upon passing through the slits, immediately split into two new waves that began to spread in semicircles centered around the slits.
As the two slits were very close to each other, the resulting water waves soon collided with each other, beginning to interfere, cancel each other out, or merge.
“It’s the wave crests and troughs… So that’s how it is, that’s how it is!” Jeffrey understood the moment he saw the water waves, his face immediately revealing an extremely delighted expression. No wonder he had felt a sense of familiarity earlier on, because it was very similar to the ripples produced when using force field magic to stir space-time.
At that moment, he felt as if he could already see a Corona Medal beckoning to him!
“Teacher, what exactly is going on?” The confusion was evident on the faces of the surrounding apprentices. They didn’t understand what they had seen, nor why Jeffrey became so excited.
Unable to contain the excitement surging in his heart, Jeffrey immediately started explaining to the apprentices. “You can think of the ripples spreading on the surface of the water as light rays, this will make it easier to understand…”
Water waves can generate ripples on a placid lake surface.
Some areas would rise, known as wave crests, while others would dip, known as wave troughs.
If two sets of waves with equal strength appeared at the same time, they would interfere with each other upon meeting.
When the crests of two waves met, the resulting interference wave would become stronger than before, and when two troughs met, the surface of the water would dip even deeper due to the overlay of both troughs.
Besides, there’s another scenario where the crest of one wave meets the trough of another, and they would cancel each other out.
Light behaves the same way. When a beam of light passes through two slits, it will also interfere with itself, creating the strange sight of alternating bright and dark lines.
The bright areas are the wave crests, and the dark areas are the wave troughs…
With Jeffrey’s explanation, the apprentices quickly turned their attention to the water waves, and they soon noticed that where the two waves collided, the parts that formed wave crests corresponded exactly to the positions where the spots of light had appeared earlier—they were almost identical!
“With this, the phenomena of light scattering and reflection can be explained too. Look at those water waves, after they collide with an object, their strength will be reduced, and then they bounce back…”
The more Jeffrey spoke, the more he felt his theory of Light Wave was flawless and could perfectly explain every natural phenomenon of light.
“So, light is definitely not composed of tiny particles. Its essence is a wave, just like the ripples generated by stirring space and magnetic fields, continuous and indivisible!” Jeffrey concluded emphatically.
This was without a doubt a revelation that would shock the entire magical world and unveil the Essence of Light!
The wizards and apprentices gathered around Jeffrey were equally excited.
One could imagine the stir they would cause at the academic conference three months later, presenting this theory. Their teacher Jeffrey would undoubtedly receive a Corona Medal, and as his assistants, they might even get a Morning Star Medal as a reward.