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Season 2013
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle tells us that it is impossible to simultaneously measure the position and momentum of a particle with infinite precision. In our everyday lives we
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Heisenberg's uncertainty principle tells us that it is impossible to simultaneously measure the position and momentum of a particle with infinite precision. In our everyday lives we virtually never come up against this limit, hence why it seems peculiar. In this experiment a laser is shone through a narrow slit onto a screen. As the slit is made narrower, the spot on the screen also becomes narrower. But at a certain point, the spot starts becoming wider. This is because the photons of light have been so localised at the slit that their horizontal momentum must become less well defined in order to satisfy Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.
Scientists are being inspired by nature to design the next generation of security devices. Arrays of nanoscale holes create beautiful reflected colours that are almost impossible to forge.
Scientists are being inspired by nature to design the next generation of security devices. Arrays of nanoscale holes create beautiful reflected colours that are almost impossible to forge.
As a Canadian-Australian, I have always wondered why it is that Australia has so many venomous animals that can kill you while Canada has virtually none. But it's not just Australia - it
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As a Canadian-Australian, I have always wondered why it is that Australia has so many venomous animals that can kill you while Canada has virtually none. But it's not just Australia - it seems like all beautiful, warm places are cursed with venomous native species. So I set out to find the truth: why have all these venomous species evolved in the world's best holiday destinations?
Light is so common that we rarely think about what it really is. But just over two hundred years ago, a groundbreaking experiment answered the question that had occupied physicists for centuries. Is light made up of waves or particles?
Light is so common that we rarely think about what it really is. But just over two hundred years ago, a groundbreaking experiment answered the question that had occupied physicists for centuries. Is light made up of waves or particles?
What would you see if you were drifting through space, looking back at the sun? Well its light intensity would decrease as the inverse square of distance from the sun. And you would
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What would you see if you were drifting through space, looking back at the sun? Well its light intensity would decrease as the inverse square of distance from the sun. And you would imagine the intensity would decrease smoothly, asymptotically approaching zero.
What happens when single photons of light pass through a double slit and are detected by a photomultiplier tube? In 1801 Thomas Young seemed to settle a long-running debate about the
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What happens when single photons of light pass through a double slit and are detected by a photomultiplier tube? In 1801 Thomas Young seemed to settle a long-running debate about the nature of light with his double slit experiment. He demonstrated that light passing through two slits creates patterns like water waves, with the implication that it must be a wave phenomenon.
The world's roundest object helps solve the longest running problem in measurement -- how to define the kilogram.
The world's roundest object helps solve the longest running problem in measurement -- how to define the kilogram.
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