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Episode 13 (B): Thought Experiments, Real Experiments and Eureka Moments
Part B of this Episode concentrates on imaginary and real experiments in the modern era. I introduce Foucaults' famous pendulum experiment (1859), which gave a visual demonstration that the Earth turns on its own axis. I propose that thought experiments answer 'what-if' questions about the natural world. They are models of possible worlds. The episode finishes with a discussion of the famous double-slit experiment on the atomic level. It started out as a mere thought experiment before becoming an iconic a real experiment. It demonstrates the weird behaviour of quantum particles, i.e. the wave-particle duality.
Literature:
You can find brief, handy descriptions of scientific experiments in Rom Harré, Great Scientific Experiments (1981) and George Johnson, The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments (2009).
The material of episodes 13 (A, B) is based on Friedel Weinert, The Demons of Science (2016), where you will find many more references to experiments in science.
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By Friedel Weinert (Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Bradford)Part B of this Episode concentrates on imaginary and real experiments in the modern era. I introduce Foucaults' famous pendulum experiment (1859), which gave a visual demonstration that the Earth turns on its own axis. I propose that thought experiments answer 'what-if' questions about the natural world. They are models of possible worlds. The episode finishes with a discussion of the famous double-slit experiment on the atomic level. It started out as a mere thought experiment before becoming an iconic a real experiment. It demonstrates the weird behaviour of quantum particles, i.e. the wave-particle duality.
Literature:
You can find brief, handy descriptions of scientific experiments in Rom Harré, Great Scientific Experiments (1981) and George Johnson, The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments (2009).
The material of episodes 13 (A, B) is based on Friedel Weinert, The Demons of Science (2016), where you will find many more references to experiments in science.