The Electron Microscope

electron miscroscope is a typical, practical by-product of the most recent developments in theoretical physics, namely, the conclusion that both radiation and matter must be looked upon as having each a dual character: a wave property and a corpuscular discreteness. A perusal of the table which follows shows that as new properties of natural phenomena reveal themselves in our experiments our theories of what is happening must be revamped to fit new experiences. The attempt to produce a satisfactory theory of natural phenomena is just an attempt on our part to imagine a machine which, working according to the laws of machines familiar to us in this workaday world, will accomplish what really happens in nature. For example, when Dr. Thomas Young in 1800 showed that interference and diffraction of light could be explained by supposing that light is a wave motion in some medium pervading all space, the wave theory of light won general acceptance. In these days, however, in order to provide a satisfactory mechanical model for light we must be prepared to look upon it, on occasion, as a wave motion in space and, on occasion, as a stream of corpuscles. A completely analagous statement may be made regarding an electron. In order to provide a satisfactory mechanical model for the electron we must be prepared to look upon it, on occasion, as a wave motion in space and, on occasion, as a corpuscle, a small material particle of mass 9x1 o28 grams and bearing a negative charge equal to 1.6 x io19 coulombs

Classical mechanics · Electron · Epistemology · Physics · Quantum mechanics · Theoretical physics · Computer Science · Electron and X-Ray Spectroscopy Techniques · Philosophy