STM+Week+08

“Einstein on the Photoelectric Effect” By David Cassidy-Response

This article briefly touches on the evolution and development of a number of ideas and theories pertaining to the photoelectric effect and quantum mechanics. Originally, scientists assumed that light and the energy that made it up traveled through space as a single continuous wave. Although this theory was wide spread and constantly used, it did not account for certain experimental inconsistencies when a black surface, which theoretically should absorb all light, was brought into the mix. Several prominent scientists and theorists, such as Max Planck, brought forth ideas and calculations for solving this puzzle, but its biggest breakthrough is attributed to Albert Einstein. Einstein theorized that light moved not just as a wave, but also as separate atoms, meaning that calculations pertaining to light would be far changed and the inconsistencies previously seen would no longer exist. This new theory was gained much steam as and has grown to be the wave-particle theory we see today, meaning that light moves with both the characteristics of a wave and a particle. I can’t help but stop and laugh at how much of our scientific “knowledge” is based on little tricks and assumptions that previous mathematicians and scientists cooked up to solve equations and situations that they could not completely figure out using concrete experimental data. Just as many of the things we have discussed in the past weeks, “theory” is a far bigger factor in science then actual data. We tout around theories such as “gravity” and “evolution” with only half formed ideas, or as is the case with many people outside of the immediate field, no real substantial experience or information. Although some of these ideas can hold together under the eyes of the public and scientific communities of today, there is no way of knowing that twenty, fifty, or even a hundred years down the line some new piece of technology or rare observation will provide a more attractive explanation. Tying into some past discussions, creationism was held up on a pedestal of absolute truth until some person, to most people Charles Darwin, had the thought to bring forth a new “theory” when faced with some inconsistencies. In the end, I think that we cannot be sure about any of the “scientific knowledge” that we have accumulated as history has continuously shown as that nothing is set in stone and everything is up for reinterpretation and reinvention.