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

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.