5 ms·

One thing I've wondered recently is how possible it is to recreate the double slit experiment (with electrons) just in your garage today. It feels like the cost

One thing I've wondered recently is how possible it is to recreate the double slit experiment (with electrons) just in your garage today. It feels like the cost of the required components have to have come down from whatever it was in the 60s into if not affordable then at least in the range of a semi dedicated hobbyist. I will admit to having done very little research in this regard (at most looking at CRT monitors as potential electron beam sources), but kinda just intriguing to me what the potential general cycle of scientific experiment -> commodity might be and how that might vary across experiment classes.

ericye16 7y ago
I was actually looking into this and found that it's apparently not _that_ expensive to get quantum entanglement at home, though of course you are going to be succeptible to some loopholes. Also, you have to be willing to keep a small amount of radioactive material somewhere in your house but apparently it's not much more than background radiation levels. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/critical-opalescence/how-to-build-your-own-quantum-entanglement-experiment-part-1-of-2/ https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/critical-opalescence/ho...
jcims 7y ago
I'm pretty sure Ben Krasnow could pull it off to some degree of satisfaction. Between his electron microscrope, ion sputtering and mass spectrometer projects, he probably has close to enough of what he needs right now to pull something together. My guess is that he could use his sputtering device or electrochemical deposition to develop a thin film for the target, electron microscope to mill and validate the slits in the film, then either the electron microscope modified or mass spectrometer almost as as-is to actually run the experiment as long as it's OK to bend the electron's path with a magnetic field after the slit and scan the interference pattern across a fixed point sensor. The mass spectrometer seems like it's basically set up to do the atomic interference patterns already (again assuming steering is OK). If you're not allowed to manipulate the path of the electron he'd probably have to come up with a mechanism to detect the interference pattern.
- SAI_Peregrinus 7y ago
  For those who don't know, Ben's Youtube channel is "Applied Science"[1]. All the described devices have videos on their design/construction/use. [1] https://www.youtube.com/user/bkraz333 https://www.youtube.com/user/bkraz333
weinzierl 7y ago
This is important. In Galilei's time not many had access to high quality optics, precise enough clocks and a high enough and sufficiently inclined towers;-) I also believe that most people at his time didn't grasp the importance of his findings. Nowadays everyone can replicate his experiments and repeat his observations and that is good, but do people really understand the implications of the insights we gained in the last 100 years? I think most people outside of physics (and a few select areas of tech) see this modern experiments as some weird outliers instead of profound discoveries about our world. In my opinion the best, and maybe only, way to change this to have experiments like the one you described - modern physics in the garage. Schools are also important: In the same way we let children do Galileis experiments we should be able to let them do modern experiments as well. My dream would be showing CHSH inequality in a fourth grade classroom.
BlueTemplar 7y ago
You can do a very simple experiment that AFAIK doesn't have a good classical explanation using 3 polarizers taken from cheap 3D movies glasses.
- fsh 7y ago
  No, there is nothing quantum about the sometimes counterintuitive behavior of polarized light. It is actually pretty difficult to directly observe the particle nature of light.
  - BlueTemplar 7y ago
    Right, I was misled... here's a good explanation why that experiment works : http://alienryderflex.com/polarizer/ http://alienryderflex.com/polarizer/

ericye16 7y ago

I was actually looking into this and found that it's apparently not _that_ expensive to get quantum entanglement at home, though of course you are going to be succeptible to some loopholes. Also, you have to be willing to keep a small amount of radioactive material somewhere in your house but apparently it's not much more than background radiation levels. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/critical-opalescence/how-to-build-your-own-quantum-entanglement-experiment-part-1-of-2/ https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/critical-opalescence/ho...

jcims 7y ago

I'm pretty sure Ben Krasnow could pull it off to some degree of satisfaction. Between his electron microscrope, ion sputtering and mass spectrometer projects, he probably has close to enough of what he needs right now to pull something together. My guess is that he could use his sputtering device or electrochemical deposition to develop a thin film for the target, electron microscope to mill and validate the slits in the film, then either the electron microscope modified or mass spectrometer almost as as-is to actually run the experiment as long as it's OK to bend the electron's path with a magnetic field after the slit and scan the interference pattern across a fixed point sensor. The mass spectrometer seems like it's basically set up to do the atomic interference patterns already (again assuming steering is OK). If you're not allowed to manipulate the path of the electron he'd probably have to come up with a mechanism to detect the interference pattern.

SAI_Peregrinus 7y ago
For those who don't know, Ben's Youtube channel is "Applied Science"[1]. All the described devices have videos on their design/construction/use. [1] https://www.youtube.com/user/bkraz333 https://www.youtube.com/user/bkraz333

weinzierl 7y ago

This is important. In Galilei's time not many had access to high quality optics, precise enough clocks and a high enough and sufficiently inclined towers;-) I also believe that most people at his time didn't grasp the importance of his findings. Nowadays everyone can replicate his experiments and repeat his observations and that is good, but do people really understand the implications of the insights we gained in the last 100 years? I think most people outside of physics (and a few select areas of tech) see this modern experiments as some weird outliers instead of profound discoveries about our world. In my opinion the best, and maybe only, way to change this to have experiments like the one you described - modern physics in the garage. Schools are also important: In the same way we let children do Galileis experiments we should be able to let them do modern experiments as well. My dream would be showing CHSH inequality in a fourth grade classroom.

BlueTemplar 7y ago

You can do a very simple experiment that AFAIK doesn't have a good classical explanation using 3 polarizers taken from cheap 3D movies glasses.

fsh 7y ago
No, there is nothing quantum about the sometimes counterintuitive behavior of polarized light. It is actually pretty difficult to directly observe the particle nature of light.
- BlueTemplar 7y ago
  Right, I was misled... here's a good explanation why that experiment works : http://alienryderflex.com/polarizer/ http://alienryderflex.com/polarizer/