How bizarre is the double slit interference experiment

With the continuous development of human science and technology, more and more scientists throughout history have started to try brand-new scientific experiments. Physics, as an important "weapon" for the development of human civilization, contains theories that have refreshed the human view of the world many times.

For physicists, each experiment is a new attempt, they can see a different material world through physical experiments, but also can bring us a new physical theory.

The double-slit interference experiment is a famous physics experiment in history. Unlike other experiments, the double-slit interference experiment is known as one of the most bizarre experiments, and it even reveals the secret about the parallel world, what is it all about?

What is the double-slit interference experiment?

To know what secrets the double-slit interference experiment has unveiled for us, we must first understand what exactly is a double-slit interference experiment.

The double-slit interference experiment is a physical experiment dedicated to demonstrating the volatility and particle nature of microscopic matter such as photons or electrons. Simply put, the double-slit interference experiment allows us to know whether light exists in the form of particles or waves.

From the point of view of the experimental operation, the double-slit interference experiment is not difficult. The original version of the double-slit interference experiment was initiated by the British scientist Thomas Young in 1807, so the double-slit interference experiment is also known as "Young's double-slit experiment".

Before this, the physics community had held to Newton's view that light exists as a "particle". Thomas Young, on the other hand, believed that light was similar to the form of sound propagation, which meant that light could exist in the form of "waves" in Thomas Young's eyes.

Thomas Young

To study the form of light, Thomas Young started the famous double-slit interference experiment.

Initially, Thomas Young prepared a candle, a shield with two slits, and a wall to start the experiment.

During the experiment, Thomas Young first lit the candle to make the light source appear. Immediately after, Thomas Young placed the candle behind the shield and began to observe the appearance of the shield on the wall.

If the light is a particle, it will go straight through the double slit, showing two obvious spots on the screen. If the light is a wave, then the process of propagation will be like "water waves" like interference, then the final will be presented on the screen between the light and dark stripes.

Through the experiment, Thomas Young found that the screen appeared with stripes, and the stripes were later called "interference stripes". The appearance of interference fringes proved that light exists in the form of "waves".

Controversial experimental results

Although we can know that light exists in the form of "waves" through Thomas Young's initial double-slit interference experiment, the results of this experiment are controversial in the physics community. However, the results of this experiment were not fully accepted in the physics community, and the famous physicist Albert Einstein proved that light existed in the form of "particles" through the "photoelectric effect".

In this regard, the question of how light exists has become a difficult problem to be solved in physics.

As the controversy escalated, the double-slit interference experiment was iterated and upgraded, and more and more physicists began to redo the double-slit interference experiment to find the answer to "light".

In 1924, Louis de Broglie creatively proposed the "wave-particle duality", arguing that light can exist in both wave and particle form. This showed that no one was wrong, and that light itself has two different modes of existence.

And after that, various versions of double-slit interference experiments appeared, except that no matter how scientists changed the experimental setup, the results remained the same.

As long as there is a machine monitoring the photons, then only the light spots appear on the screen. And if the machine is not monitoring the photon, then the interference stripes will appear, as if the light knows in advance whether humans are observing it or not.

Scientists are beginning to realize that the "laws of cause and effect" in the microscopic world are likely to be the opposite of what we know. In the microscopic world, there is likely an "effect first, then a cause" phenomenon. If this theory is true, then our worldview will probably be reshaped.

The Existence of Parallel Worlds

The double-slit interference experiment not only shocks people's view of the law of cause and effect but also reveals the possibility of parallel worlds.

Through the experiments, we can know that there is a possibility of "superposition" and "quantum collapse" of quanta. When a photon is emitted from a light source, it can be both a wave and a particle, and the light passes through both the gap on the left and the gap on the right, which is what we call the superposition state.

Looking at the entire universe, it is also likely that our universe will split into different universes as we choose. In our lifetime, we are faced with countless choices, each of which will lead us to a different path.

It's like taking a fork in the road for us. Just because we choose one of the intersections doesn't mean the other one doesn't exist. On top of another road, there is likely to exist another us walking in it.

Different choices guide us to different parallel worlds. The world we exist in today is probably just one of the thousands of parallel universes.

As one of the most bizarre experiments in history, the double-slit interference experiment has dramatically overturned our view of the existence of matter. Perhaps there are an infinite number of different parallel universes in the universe, and an infinite number of different "us". We live in separate universes, never knowing of each other's existence.