The equipment is named after Thomas Young, who demonstrated the wave nature of light at the beginning of the nineteenth century by shining a narrow light source through two slits and noting the interference patterns on an observation screen. Since then experiments have been carried out firing electrons through double slits to define and explore the wave-particle duality of electrons.
The miniature is an interactive version of an online demonstration. The aim is to use AR to simulate the behaviour of ordinary particles (i.e. not electrons) and waves passing through slits. The apparatus consists of a small cube representing a source, a frame with one or two slits and a projection screen. These are slotted into onto a base so that their alignment is fixed. There are four frames altogether, one with one slit and three with two slits at different distances apart.
Figure 1: The Young´s Double Slit Miniature
Each frame has a different AR marker. There is also one marker on the small cube at the end of the model. This cube will then be superimposed by a virtual cannon in the AR view. The cube can be used as a tangible user interface to change the virtual cannon’s orientation. The exhibit provides two modes, particle and wave. In the particle mode the AR enhanced image will show the path of particles originating at the source, in particular the pattern they would make on the screen, one line corresponding to each slit (Figure 1). In wave mode the equipment would appear to be in water, with waves emanating from the source and creating interference patterns on the screen. The effect on the screen will different for each frame and each mode.
One way in which younger learners could use this miniature is to predict what will appear on the screen and then to use the AR to find out if they were correct. Science specialists would be expected to move on from the miniature and make quantitative predictions based on waves and particles passing through slits. These learners could then move on to study the concept of wave/particle duality.
Figure2: Representation of the AR for particle mode with two slits fairly close together
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