I Pioneered Scientific Magic - Chapter 502 (Patreon)

Chapter 502: The Photoelectric Effect and the Wave Nature of the World!

After Geoffrey gave the order, the apprentices quickly got busy.

With the aid of magic, modifying the barrier to add an additional hole was an easy task, and in just a few minutes, it was done.

The barrier changed from having one hole to two, and its shape from circular to square.

When a strong beam of light shot out from the emitter and passed through the two very fine slits, a look of astonishment appeared on everyone's faces.

Instead of the expected two stripes matching the slits, nine clear rectangular patches of light appeared on the black wall behind the holes, with the brightest patch in the middle, and the brightness of the other patches decreasing to either side.

"Why are there so many patches of light?"

The apprentice who had suggested the idea was suddenly stunned. If light truly traveled in straight lines, then passing through the two slits should have resulted in just two corresponding light patches on the wall.

Even if refraction occurred as light encountered an object, such a peculiar pattern should not appear—let alone that the brightest of these patches was in the center, completely defying common sense.

This discovery also left Geoffrey utterly amazed, his mind vaguely grasping something crucial yet elusive.

"It's like ripples in water..." muttered a short-statured male wizard beside him.

Geoffrey froze for a moment, then turned, grabbing the male wizard's collar in excitement. "Ripples? What ripples?"

Startled by Geoffrey's sudden fervor, the wizard stammered in reply, "Just like... the ripples in water, teacher..."

"Show me, right now, the water ripples you just mentioned!" Geoffrey released the wizard, grabbed a basin of water with Mage Hand, and placed it on the table, urging him on.

The short wizard did not dare delay, taking a double-slit barrier from the lab and placing it into the basin. After letting the water settle for a few minutes, he then touched the water surface.

"Just like this!"

As everyone watched, ripples emanated from where his finger touched, spreading in all directions and soon meeting the slits in the barrier.

The vibrating water waves, upon passing through the slits, immediately split into two new wave fronts that began to spread in a semi-circular fashion from the slits as centers.

Because the two slits were very close to each other, the produced waves soon collided, interfering, canceling each other out, or merging.

"It's the crests and troughs... so that's how it is, that's how it is!" Upon seeing the water waves, Geoffrey instantly understood, his face lighting up with joy. No wonder he had felt a sense of familiarity because this resembled the ripple effect of using force-field magic to stir space-time.

At this moment, he felt as though a coronet medal was beckoning him!

"Teacher, what exactly is going on?" The surrounding apprentices wore confused expressions, not fully understanding or grasping why Geoffrey was so excited.

Unable to contain his excitement, Geoffrey began to explain. "You can think of the spreading ripples on the water as light rays; it makes it easier to understand..."

Waves would cause ripples on a calm lake surface.

Some areas would rise, forming crests, while others would dip, forming troughs.

If, as just demonstrated, two waves of equal strength appear at the same time, they will interfere when they meet.

Where two wave crests meet, the resulting interference wave becomes stronger than before, while troughs meeting troughs make the water surface dip even deeper.

Additionally, another scenario occurs when a crest meets a trough from another wave; they cancel each other out.

Light behaves similarly; when a light beam passes through two slits, it also interferes, hence producing the strange alternation of bright and dark light patches.

The bright areas are where crests meet, and the dark areas, where troughs...

With Geoffrey's explanation, the apprentices quickly looked back at the water waves and soon noticed that where the crests collided matched exactly the locations where the light patches had brightened before—the similarities were striking!

"So, this explains the phenomena of light scattering and reflection. Look at those water waves, when they collide with an object, some of their energy is diminished, then bounces back..."

Geoffrey grew more convinced as he spoke, realizing that his theory on the wave nature of light could perfectly explain every natural phenomenon of light.

"This means that light is not composed of tiny individual light elements; its essence is a wave, continuous and indivisible, just like the ripples produced when space and magnetic fields are stirred!" Geoffrey concluded emphatically.

This was certainly a groundbreaking discovery that would astonish the entire magical world, decrypting the true nature of light!

The wizards and apprentices gathered around Geoffrey were equally ecstatic.

They could imagine the uproar this theory would cause at the academic conference three months later. Their teacher, Geoffrey, was undoubtedly on his way to earning

 a coronet medal, and his assistants might even receive a morning star medal as a reward.

Such an honor was monumental!

As the group of wizarding scholars happily flattered and celebrated, some expressed concern in a worried tone. "Teacher, should we publish some of our findings first? I've heard many schools are researching optics, and if we've discovered this phenomenon, others might think of it too."

Hearing this, Geoffrey immediately became alert and swiftly responded. "You're right, I'll start drafting now. You all organize these days' research notes as quickly as possible, try to have the paper ready before noon."

"And go find Magic Daily's editor, Rorl; I remember he's currently in the City of Fire Oil. If you're quick enough, you might catch tonight's edition of Magic Daily!" Geoffrey instructed urgently.

The experiment itself was not difficult, and the water wave theory wasn't too hard to conceive. Geoffrey was well aware that being the first to discover it was entirely due to having stayed behind to refine deuterium and tritium elements, giving him ample time for academic research.

Now, with the empire's war nearing its end and everyone having more free time, who knew if someone might beat them to the punch at the academic conference in three months.

It was essential to publish some of their findings first, to secure their place and not let others snatch this glory away!

Geoffrey feverishly wrote, spending several hours to have the paper ready before noon, feeling extremely pleased. He even distributed ten magic gold coins to each of the scholarly wizards in the lab as an advance reward!

To those who had voiced concerns and inspired him, Geoffrey heartily promised they would indeed earn a morning star medal!

"Now, I wonder if Anthony and the others are still studying the changes in magnetic and electric fields?" Geoffrey thought smugly, aware that there were three great wizards still struggling to comprehend electromagnetism, while he had already advanced a step ahead in understanding the nature of light.

Geoffrey looked forward to seeing their reactions when today's Magic Daily published his findings.

Meanwhile, in the City of Fire Oil, the great wizard Anthony and others were pacing anxiously in the lab, occasionally glancing at the elegant formulas in front of them, deeply contemplating.

These formulas were none other than the Maxwell equations written by Lynn in the microcosm!

Initially, Anthony had felt these four equations were profoundly insightful. After deep research, he was amazed to discover that they were the holy scripture of Thunder Magic!

Disassembling each formula could cover several pages, and their studies and experiments on electric and magnetic fields had proven the precision of these equations.

According to some thunder wizards, "Truth leaps forth from the pages in a wonderful way!"

Now, what they were exploring was the speed of thunder through different media.

Like light, the speed of thunder was incredibly fast, reaching tens of thousands of kilometers per second in the air!

But this was obviously not the limit!

After testing dozens of different materials, Anthony found that thunder traveled very fast on conductors. To conduct a precise experiment, they manufactured several ten-kilometer-long conductors from different materials, ready to empirically verify their speed.

The results of this experiment were expected today!

As Anthony's impatience grew, the tightly closed lab doors finally swung open, and dozens of thunder wizards filed in, one of them cheerfully announced.

"The experiment's results are out, Master Anthony."

"How fast is it?" Anthony hadn't even spoken when the other thunder wizards eagerly asked.

"Twenty-nine thousand nine hundred kilometers per second!" the wizard replied.

"Twenty-nine thousand nine hundred kilometers..." Anthony murmured, the speed sounding eerily familiar.

"Are you sure there's no mistake? Isn't that almost the same as the speed of light?" the witch Flora said, puzzled.

"Of course, there's no mistake, we tested it hundreds of times!" the great wizard Sanchez rolled his eyes, noting that the speed of electric current was the same in all conductors, though resistance issues caused variations in the intensity of the current that ultimately reached them.

To ensure accuracy, Sanchez even took matters into his own hands, using a great wizard's exceptional perception and calculation skills to determine the exact moment the electric current arrived.

After dozens of tests, almost numbed by the electricity, he was utterly certain the value was correct!

"But how can it be such a coincidence?" The wizards looked at each other.

Last time, they had tested the speed of light at twenty-nine thousand nine hundred twenty kilometers per second using gear rotation. The difference was minimal, almost identical, but because the speed was so fast, exceeding their reaction capabilities, there was some slight error during the test.

Anthony couldn't believe this was merely a coincidence; there must be a deeper connection between the two.

He had already sensed this while studying the Maxwell equations.

Suddenly, as if struck by a realization, Anthony pointed excitedly at the Maxwell equations on the table. "I understand... light is electricity, light is electricity

!"

"Light is electricity?" Sanchez frowned, though the speed of electricity in conductors was similar to light, it seemed too presumptive to conclude so definitively.

After all, the speed of thunder in the air was much slower than light, and while they could barely sense electric currents, they couldn't detect light elements at all!

Anthony explained fervently, "Hear me out, light might just be another form of electricity, similar to the relationship between magnetic and electric fields!"

"Like the electric lights all over the City of Fire Oil, once electricity enters the filament, it's consumed as light, or rather, this electricity is transformed into light and radiates out!"

"If my guess isn't wrong, then concentrated beams of light can also be transformed into electric currents!" Anthony banged the table, excited.

"Quick, start the experiment!"

Hundreds of thunder wizards immediately got busy, spending an entire night trying countless materials until they successfully created a rudimentary solar device!

Just as Anthony had suspected, the light beams hitting this device were continuously converted into electricity!

Witnessing the motor successfully start, the entire lab erupted into intense cheers and applause.

"Teacher, you're right, light is electricity, electricity is light!" Flora also felt honored, it seemed they were still set to win the coronet medal for penetrating the essence of light!

Sanchez added, "I dare say light is probably just smaller electrons, thunder like those radioactive elements, once triggered, continuously radiating its energy until exhausted."

"What a brilliant idea, it won't be long before we can find light particles, or perhaps even smaller electrical elements!" Anthony praised.

This discovery was sure to set the magical world ablaze, and their names would undoubtedly be engraved in magical history!

However, just as they were rejoicing, the lab's doors were suddenly knocked open.

Annoyed, Anthony turned to see another disciple, Kagal, pushing the door open.

Holding a few pages of the newspaper, Kagal rushed in, panting, "Teacher, you must see today's Magic Daily, Great Wizard Geoffrey says... he has successfully decrypted the essence of light!"

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