TY - JOUR
T1 - Bouncing droplets
T2 - A classroom experiment to visualize wave-particle duality on the macroscopic level
AU - Sleutel, Cornelis Pascal
AU - Dietrich, E.
AU - Van Der Veen, Jan T.
AU - Van Joolingen, Wouter R.
PY - 2016/7/27
Y1 - 2016/7/27
N2 - This study brings a recently discovered macroscopic phenomenon with wave-particle characteristics into the classroom. The system consists of a liquid droplet levitating over a vertically shaken liquid pool. The droplets allow visualization of a wave-particle system in a directly observable way. We show how to interpret this macroscopic phenomenon and how to set up and carry out this experiment. A class of students performed single slit diffraction experiments with droplets. By scoring individual droplet trajectories students find a diffraction pattern. This pilot application in the classroom shows that students can study and discuss the wave-particle nature of the bouncing droplet experiment. The experiment therefore provides a useful opportunity to show wave-particle behavior on the macroscopic level.
AB - This study brings a recently discovered macroscopic phenomenon with wave-particle characteristics into the classroom. The system consists of a liquid droplet levitating over a vertically shaken liquid pool. The droplets allow visualization of a wave-particle system in a directly observable way. We show how to interpret this macroscopic phenomenon and how to set up and carry out this experiment. A class of students performed single slit diffraction experiments with droplets. By scoring individual droplet trajectories students find a diffraction pattern. This pilot application in the classroom shows that students can study and discuss the wave-particle nature of the bouncing droplet experiment. The experiment therefore provides a useful opportunity to show wave-particle behavior on the macroscopic level.
KW - classroom experiment
KW - diffraction
KW - droplets
KW - walkers
KW - wave-particle duality
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84985991881&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1088/0143-0807/37/5/055706
DO - 10.1088/0143-0807/37/5/055706
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84985991881
VL - 37
JO - European journal of physics
JF - European journal of physics
SN - 0143-0807
IS - 5
M1 - 055706
ER -