An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

A series of experiments carried out in the early 1980s by Alain Aspect and his colleagues that showed the violation of → Bell's inequality. Accordingly, quantum phenomena cannot be described by the → hidden variable theories, contrarily to the → EPR paradox interpretation.

Alain Aspect (1947-); → experiment. Aspect et al., 1982, Physical Review Letters, Vol. 49, No. 25 and references therein.

An experiment devised to produce → interference patterns from a beam of helium atoms passing through two adjacent apertures, as in → Young's experiment.

Named after O. Carnal and J. Mlynek, who first carried out this experiment in 1991 (Phys. Rev. Lett. 66, 2689); → experiment.

The experiment carried out in 1927 that confirmed the → de Broglie hypothesis as to the → wave nature of the → electron. It showed that electrons scattering off crystals form a → diffraction pattern. The experimental setup consisted of a → nickle chloride → crystal as → target, an electron gun, and a → detector placed on a graduated circular scale. The intensity of the reflected electrons was measured as a function of angle and electron energy. The observations showed a strong intensity peak at a certain angle. The nickel crystal acted as a → diffraction grating. → Constructive interference occurred at a particular angle, where the peak intensity was observed in accord with → Bragg's law. Interestingly, the intent of the initial experiment was was not to confirm the de Broglie hypothesis. In fact, the discovery was made by accident.

Carried out by American physicists Clinton Davisson (1881-1958) and Lester Germer (1896-1971); → experiment.

An experiment of → diffraction and → interference of two light beams using a → double slit; → Young's experiment.

→ double; → slit; → experiment.

An act or operation for the purpose of discovering something unknown or of testing a principle, supposition. See: → Aspect experiment, → Carnal-Mlynek experiment, → Davisson-Germer experiment, → double-slit experiment, → Eratosthenes experiment, → Hafele-Keating experiment, → Hertz experiment, → Michelson-Morley experiment, → Millikan's oil-drop experiment, → Pascal's barrel experiment, → random experiment, → Stern-Gerlach experiment, → thought experiment, → toothed-wheel experiment, → Trouton-Noble experiment, → Young's experiment.

From O.Fr. experiment, from L. experimentum "a trial, test," from experiri "to test, try," from → ex- "out of" + peritus "experienced, tested."

Âzmâyeš, verbal noun of âzmudan, âzmây- "to try, experiment, test;" Mid.Pers. uzmudan, ôzmutan "to test, try, prove;" from O.Pers./Av. *uz-māy-, from uz-, → ex- + mā(y)- "to measure," Proto-Ir. *maH- "to measure;" PIE *meH- "to measure;" cf. Skt. mati "measures," matra "measure;" Gk. metra "lot, portion;" L. metri "to measure."

An experiment performed in 1971 using four atomic → cesium clocks transported in jet airplanes eastward and westward around the Earth to verify the → time dilation predicted by the theory of → special relativity.

J.C. Hafele and R. E. Keating, 1972, Science 177, 166; → experiment.

A laboratory experiment carried out by Heinrich Hertz in 1888 to generate and detect → electromagnetic waves for the first time. It involved a high voltage power source, consisting of two → capacitors, each provided with a conducting rod. The rods were separated by a small → spark gap and connected to an → induction coil. When the electrodes were raised to a sufficiently high → potential difference, a spark passed across the gap, and an oscillating discharge took place. A group of waves with a wavelength of a few meters were emitted at each discharge. A wire loop provided with a detecting spark gap, held away from the oscillating sparks, produced sparks upon arrival of the oscillating electric and magnetic fields.

→ hertz (Hz); → experiment.

An experiment performed in 1887 to establish the presence or absence of an → ether, a medium through which light was supposed to travel. The experiment aimed to measure the speed of light coming from different directions. However no → ether drift was found. The null results obtained showed that the ether hypothesis was incorrect. Consequently, the theory of → special relativity, with its hypothesis that the speed of light is the same in all → inertial frames, reconciled the results of the Michelson-Morley experiment with the rest of physics.

→ Michelson interferometer; Michelson received the Nobel Prize in 1907 for his work, the first American to receive the Prize in science. Edward Williams Morley (1838-1923), an American chemist; → experiment.

A chemical experiment conducted in 1953 that aimed at checking Alexander Oparin's and J. B. S. Haldane's hypothesis that under putative conditions present in the atmosphere of the early Earth inorganic molecules would spontaneously form organic molecules. Miller and Urey filled a sterile flask with a mixture of water, ammonia, methane, and hydrogen. The mixture was heated to evaporate water to produce water vapor. High-voltage electric sparks were passed through the mixture to simulate lightning. After a week, contents were analyzed. Amino acids, the building blocks for proteins, were found.

Named after Stanley L. Miller (1930-2007) and Harold C. Urey (1893-1981); → experiment.

A precision experiment for measuring the → electron charge. By studying the falling speed of small charged droplets in the gravitational field of the Earth subjected to an adjustable electric field, Millikan (1909) was able to demonstrate conclusively the discrete nature of electric charge, and moreover measure the charge of an individual electron.

Robert Andrews Millikan (1868-1953); → experiment.

An open-source, one-dimensional astrophysical code which is capable of calculating the evolution of stars in a wide range of environments. It works according to the → Henyey method and uses many modules that deal with various aspects of the theoretical models, such as the → equation of state (EOS), → nuclear reaction networks, → chemical composition, micro-physics, or macro-physics. The EOS and corresponding opacities or nuclear networks are provided in tabulated formats and can be selected by the user, while the micro-physics and macro-physics can be controlled by inlists of relevant parameters and settings (Paxton et al. 2015, ApJS 220, 15 and references therein).

→ module; → experiment; → stellar; → astrophysics.

An experiment carried out by Blaise Pascal in 1646 to demonstrate the hydraulic pressure. A long and narrow vertical pipe was connected to the content of a closed wooden barrel already full of water. He poured a small quantity of water into the pipe, whereby the height of the fluid within the pipe sharply increased. Due to the increase in hydrostatic pressure and → Pascal's law, the barrel could leak and even burst.

→ pascal (Pa); M.E. barel, from M.Fr. baril, O.Fr. barril; → experiment

Statistics: Experiments in which results will not be essentially the same even though conditions may be nearly identical.

→ random; → experiment.

An experiment devised for measuring the → magnetic moment of → silver atoms. A → beam of silver atoms is directed between the → poles of a non-homogeneous → magnetic field. Contrarily to the prediction of the classical theory, the atoms divide into two distinct parts. One half of atoms are deflected up, the other half deflected down. The amount of deflection up or down is exactly of the same magnitude. Whether an individual atom is deflected up or down appears to be random. From a measurement of the → deflection, one can find the strength of the magnetic moment. This experience provides proof that there exist only two permitted orientations, called the → quantization of → spin.

In honor of Otto Stern (1888-1969), German physicist, Nobel laureate in Physics 1943, and Walter Gerlach (1889-1979), German physicist, who carried out the experiment in 1922. They used a beam of silver atoms from a hot oven because they could be readily detected on a photograph emulsion. Moreover, the silver atoms allowed studying the magnetic properties of a single electron because the atoms have a single outer electron; → experiment.

A demonstration which is carried out in the realm of the imagination, rather than in a laboratory. Thought experiments are designed to test ideas, theories, and hypotheses which cannot physically be tested, at least with current scientific equipment. Some examples: → Maxwell's demon; → Einstein's elevator; Heisenberg's gamma-ray microscope; → Schrodinger's cat. Also called Gedanken experiment.

→ thought; → experiment. Based on both the Ger./L. compound Gedankenexperiment and its Ger. equivalent Gedankenversuch.

The experiment which provided the first accurate measurement of the speed of light. The experiment, conducted by the French physicist Armand H. L. Fizeau (1819-1896) in 1849, used a rotating wheel containing 720 teeth. The function of the wheel was to cut a light beam into short pulses and to measure the time required for these pulses to travel to a distant mirror and back (17.34 km). The round-trip time for each pulse could be calculated to be about 1/18,000 sec, which yielded the value of 315,300 km/sec for the speed of light. Leon Foucault (1819-1868) improved on Fizeau's method by replacing the cogwheel with a rotating mirror. Foucault's estimate, published in 1862, was 298,000 km/s.

From tooth; M.E.; O.E. toth (cf. O.S., Dan., Swed., Du. tand, O.N. tönn, O.Fris. toth, O.H.G. zand, Ger. Zahn, Goth. tunthus), cognate with Pers. dandân, as below; → wheel; → experiment.

Âzmâyeš, → experiment; carx→ wheel; dandâne-dâr "toothed," from dandân "tooth," Mid.Pers. dandân; Av. dantan-; cf. Skt. dánta-; Gk. odontos; L. dens (Fr. dent); Lith. dantis, O.Ir. det, Welsh dent; PIE base *dont-/*dent- "tooth."

An experiment first carried out in 1903 to reveal the absolute motion of the Earth with respect to the → ether. The experiment consists of detecting a torque on a charged parallel-plate → capacitor that was suspended so that its plates were vertical. Since the Earth moves around the Sun, the moving charges were expected to produce magnetic fields, and the resulting torque should tend to turn the capacitor bringing its plates parallel to its velocity. No such effect was observed, and the absence of the torque supports the theory of → special relativity.

Named after Frederick T. Trouton (1863-1922) and Henry R. Noble; → experiment.

A method of producing → interference of light. Two beams of → coherent light are produced by passing light through a very small circular aperture in one screen, then through two small circular apertures very close together in a second screen. On a third screen, behind the second screen, there will be two overlapping sets of waves and, if the light is monochromatic, → interference fringes will appear on the third screen. The experiment can also be performed with a beam of electrons or atoms, showing similar interference patterns. Young's experiment provides an evidence of the → wave-particle duality, as explained by → quantum mechanics. Same as → double-slit experiment.

Named after the English scientist Thomas Young (1773-1829), who originally performed the experiment some time around 1801 in an attempt to resolve the question of whether light was composed of particles (the → corpuscular theory of light); or rather consisted of waves travelling through some → ether. The experiment proved the wave nature of light; → experiment.