A Physics revolution?
Physics seems to be stuck. There is no notable progress in the last 30 years or so. But if I may offer my opinion as an amateur physicist, I think Physics is destined for a revolution. How soon depends on how many people believe in it. Consider these results and insights presented at SPIE Optics and Photonics 2009:
1. The single indivisible photon has never been observed. The quantum mechanical interference of the single photon's wave function with itself as it passes through a double slit is a myth.
2. The indivisible photon is unnecessary for the photoelectric effect to be observed (since electron energy levels are already quantized).
3. Gravity does not bend light rays as predicted by General Relativity. The 1919 Eddington experiment about bending of starlight seems to be a result of refraction in the Sun's atmosphere.
Well, I am surprised or even shocked by these results, for they challenge some really fundamental stuff in Physics. Not that I have always been comfortable with it - for instance, I have always hated the instantaneous collapse of the quantum mechanical wave function. But these are things I thought I was comfortable with.
Now it seems, even Maxwell's equations have a problem. As I read Thomas Phipps' "Old Physics for New", I realized something that I have overlooked all these years. Look at this excerpt from Griffiths' "Introduction to Electrodynamics":
From the first equation to the second, Griffiths changed a total time derivative to a partial one, without any Mathematical justification! And of course Maxwell's equations all have partial derivatives, but they should really be total. The implications are vast. For one, it invalidates Special Relativity (!). Really? Sigh...
The truth will set you free. But for now, the truth has only confused and frustrated me. Who will lead us out of the darkness and into the light?
1. The single indivisible photon has never been observed. The quantum mechanical interference of the single photon's wave function with itself as it passes through a double slit is a myth.
2. The indivisible photon is unnecessary for the photoelectric effect to be observed (since electron energy levels are already quantized).
3. Gravity does not bend light rays as predicted by General Relativity. The 1919 Eddington experiment about bending of starlight seems to be a result of refraction in the Sun's atmosphere.
Well, I am surprised or even shocked by these results, for they challenge some really fundamental stuff in Physics. Not that I have always been comfortable with it - for instance, I have always hated the instantaneous collapse of the quantum mechanical wave function. But these are things I thought I was comfortable with.
Now it seems, even Maxwell's equations have a problem. As I read Thomas Phipps' "Old Physics for New", I realized something that I have overlooked all these years. Look at this excerpt from Griffiths' "Introduction to Electrodynamics":
From the first equation to the second, Griffiths changed a total time derivative to a partial one, without any Mathematical justification! And of course Maxwell's equations all have partial derivatives, but they should really be total. The implications are vast. For one, it invalidates Special Relativity (!). Really? Sigh...
The truth will set you free. But for now, the truth has only confused and frustrated me. Who will lead us out of the darkness and into the light?
posted by Yifan at 8:28 PM
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