Chapter 586: Chapter 507: Mimetic Interference Fringes, A Great Victory for Particle Theory_2
In view of this, Lynn did not skimp on rewards and directly awarded the recipient a Morning Star Medal.
Sean stood on the spot, taken aback with honor, as the magic star himself placed the medal on him, his face flushing with excitement. He had never enjoyed such esteemed treatment!
After bowing again to express his gratitude, Sean returned to his seat amid the extreme envy of others. Several wizards nearby even took the initiative to engage him in enthusiastic conversation.
“So, the next item is Master Sanchez’s light particle scattering experiment,” Harrov said, glancing at the list in his hands.
At those words, the wizards present perked up, understanding that this was the focal point of the academic conference.
The dispute between the theories of light as particles and waves had persisted for several months, and this was not merely a theoretical debate; with the ownership of a Corona Medal at stake, no one was willing to give up easily.
Under the gaze of all, Sanchez rose and walked to the podium. After bowing to the assembly of chairpersons, he began to present his particle theory.
What he said was identical to those papers published in “Magic Daily.” His fundamental argument was that light consisted of countless tiny particles, and even within a beam of light 0.1 millimeters in diameter, there were billions of these light particles!
While speaking, Sanchez raised his right hand and created a slightly reddish, translucent magic sphere in his palm. Inside, a large number of Mimic Elements swirled vigorously, simulating the existence of light electrons.
It was at that moment that a wizard who supported the wave theory suddenly laughed scornfully and interrupted Sanchez.
“Wait a moment, Master Sanchez. You just said that light is electricity, and electricity is light, even suggesting that electricity is made of even smaller particles of light…”
“But a burning candle can also continue to emit light. Does that mean it can continuously produce electricity as well?”
A wave of laughter erupted in the large conference room. Candles, of course, cannot be used for generating electricity… However, some people did not laugh, including Sanchez, who sighed with a touch of frustration.
“I don’t know if you are a wizard from the Kingdom or from the Empire?”
“I hail from Steel City, Seltode…” the male wizard said unwaveringly.
Seltode was a significant fortress in the eastern region of the Kingdom and had been ‘recovered’ late in the history, having been under the control of the grand nobles previously.
It was ranked in the middle to lower echelons of the implicit division amongst the wizard community.
Although they were all wizards, biases still existed among them.
For example, wizards born in Wizard Land looked down on those born in the Kingdom, considering them barbarians without systematic magical education, while wizards from the Kingdom held the wizards from the Empire in contempt…
Even as Council consciously tried to eliminate regional differences, these contradictions were inevitable.
Sensing that his words might have led to some misunderstandings, Sanchez quickly shook his head and said, “Anyway, I suggest you buy a copy of Master Alade’s work ‘Essence of Flames’ and take a good look at Chairperson Lynn’s ‘On the Internal Structure of Elements, Electron Orbit Model’ to avoid asking such foolish questions again.”
“What is fire? It is the oxidation reaction that occurs during the combustion of material. If the temperature is high enough, it becomes a plasma of high temperature…”
“Moreover, electrons exist within every element. I thought that this basic knowledge was known by everyone here…”
Sanchez looked disdainfully at the male wizard. It wasn’t just candles; theoretically, with enough temperature, all materials could ionize!
Hearing this, the wizards who had just been laughing were now horribly embarrassed, and the male wizard who had spoken earlier was rendered speechless.
After shooting down the skeptics, Sanchez paid them no further heed and continued on with his particle theory, using Glenn’s earlier demonstration of pinhole imaging as support.
With the efforts of the apprentices, a simple experimental stage was quickly constructed.
There were only three items on it.
On the left was a candle, in the center was a partition with a tiny hole, and on the right, a stone wall.
Sanchez lit the candle, and immediately, an inverted image of the candlelight appeared on the stone wall across from it, only it was upside down.
“We can imagine that the light emitted by the candle is composed of countless light spots. Since the diameter of the flame is larger than the hole, the light from the upper part of the flame passes through the hole in a straight line and is projected on the lower part of the wall, while the light from the lower part of the flame is projected on the upper part of the wall. All these light spots combine to form an upside-down candle flame!”
“If light were a wave, it couldn’t possibly display such an inverted image with the shape and size being completely opposite and clear!” Sanchez exclaimed loudly. “Therefore, there is no doubt that light is made up of particles that travel in straight lines!”
The voice of Sanchez echoed continuously in the exhibition hall, and the wizards present discussed fervently as they looked at the noticeable shadow of the candle on the stone wall.
“Then how would you explain the phenomena of light interference and diffraction?” Jeffrey, who had been silent all along, finally couldn’t restrain himself and asked a question that was a sticking point for the particle camp.
“That’s exactly the experiment I’m about to conduct!” A mocking smile appeared on Sanchez’s lips. “With a simple simulation, everything will become clear!”
Sanchez had the candle removed and replaced the center partition with one that had double slits. Then he created another group of elements emitting a blue light in his left hand.
“Now, I hypothesize these to be photoelectrons!”
Sanchez, holding a red and a blue group of elements, shot them towards the slits in the partition under everyone’s watchful eyes!
Upon striking the holes, which were even smaller in diameter, the protective membrane on the outside of the elements shattered, and the mimic magic elements inside started to disperse in all directions.
As the source of the explosion was dual and the distance very close, many of the scattered red and blue elements quickly collided and merged with one another, their power becoming even more formidable.
The wizards in the front row stood up abruptly from their seats, their gaze fixed on the stone wall.
The impact of the red and green mimic elements on the wall left noticeable pits, and after about three seconds, the result was clear. The landing points of the scattered elements were concentrated in several areas, forming nine stripes made up of impact pits.
There were indeed fewer pits in the middle of these stripes.
“Interference stripes, these are interference stripes!” Sean exclaimed in shock.
More and more people began to realize—if these pits were regarded as scattered light particles, then the areas with a denser concentration of pits would be the brightest parts of the light, while the other areas would be comparatively dimmer.
This meant that even if light was a stream of particles, it could still exhibit phenomena like light interference and diffraction!
Realizing this, the wizards who supported the particle theory of light were ecstatic, and Sanchez’s experiment undoubtedly had cleared a major obstacle for the particle theory. A chorus of cheers and applause resonated nonstop in the exhibition hall.
The Grand Wizard Alade even read out the result, shouting loudly, “This is a victory for the particle theory!”
Sanchez, smug with triumph, turned his gaze toward Jeffrey and Anthony.
“I must say, this explanation is quite clever, Sanchez!” Anthony could not help but express his amazement.
He had read about Sanchez’s photoelectron explosion theory but had not expected the other party to actually carry out the experiment, even though it was merely a mimicry of the result.
“I regret that you have abandoned the correct path, Anthony,” Sanchez said with a light chuckle. “It’s still not too late to change your mind!”
Anthony, however, shook his head and sighed, “Unfortunately, the theory is wrong!”
Seeing that Anthony remained stubborn, Sanchez frowned with dissatisfaction. But before he could respond, Anthony spoke up once more, with finality in his voice.
“Because I have found the essence of light, it actually… is a type of electromagnetic wave!”