This is a really wonderful video. I especially liked his presentation on the nature of the EM spectrum, and his use of the centimeter waves to demonstrate wave behaviour. The two slit experiment was very nice. Sir Lawrence's presentation on SWR was brilliant.
Still, you wonder how would all this be done if those waves of Sir Lawrence (and Young, Maxwell and Faraday) were considered to be the photons that they also really are?
In any case, three cheers for the Royal Institution: https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/search?q=Royal+Institution
These Royal Institute lectures were very popular around Christmas and it was a big treat (as a boy) to be taken to the R.I. in London by my parents.
ReplyDeletePopular Scientists such as Adam Hart-Davis and Magnus Pyke were two that I recall.
The lectures were eventually broadcast on BBC TV to get a wider audience.
The last lecture that I went to was just as the pandemic was starting to look very serious - and London with all those people milling around seemed suddenly a precarious place to be.
Out of caution, we did not catch a bus back to the railway station, but we instead walked.
It was a big thrill to go hear "one of the Fathers of the Internet" Vint Cerf speak.
Do please look him up on Wikipedia and be amazed that one man can achieve so much.
72/3
Tony G4WIF
Tony: I too have long been a fan of the RI. Elisa is also a fan. As for Vint Cerf, there is a strong SolderSmoke connection there -- Dean KK4DAS knew him. 73 Bill
DeleteYup, Wave-Particle Duality. Amazing how a simple equation λ=h/mv can relate the wavelength λ to the particle momentum mv, with Planck's constant, h. Each new field of physics took a while to catch on before it was accepted.
ReplyDeleteMike: I am always disppointed that QM doesn't provide an explanation of photon emission that is as detailed and understandable as that of wave emission. With waves we discuss the beautiful interaction of electric and magnetic fields, and the role of the speed of light. But when we get to photons, we just seem to say that when charges accellearte, they emit photons. That's all. The explanations seem to lack duality.
Delete(Yesterday I was unpacking the toroidal cores you sent me. Thanks again OM.)
73 Bill HI7/N2CQR
Everything you need to know about radio, including propagation. The delivery too is without fault. It's great to have a hobby that is underpinned by the hard facts of physics. -- VK3HN.
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