Pion Detection: Finding a Film for Interference Experiment

  • Context: Undergrad 
  • Thread starter Thread starter khelzor
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Detection Pion Pions
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around a high school student's proposal to recreate Young's interference experiment using charged pions instead of electrons. The focus is on identifying suitable materials for detecting interference patterns created by pions and addressing potential issues related to pion decay during the experiment.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions the choice of using pions and asks about the slit material and the necessary conditions for observing an interference pattern.
  • Another participant suggests performing a quick feasibility test to determine if the proposed experiment is viable before investing significant time in details.
  • A participant mentions that CERN has a pion source and advises calculating the de-Broglie wavelength of the pions to assess the appropriate slit diameter for interference.
  • There is a suggestion that the student should conduct thorough research and review previous successful proposals to strengthen their project.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the feasibility and approach of the proposed experiment. There is no consensus on the best materials for detecting pions or the overall viability of the experiment as presented.

Contextual Notes

Participants highlight the importance of understanding the conditions necessary for observing interference patterns, including the speed of pions and the dimensions of the slits. There are unresolved questions regarding the impact of pion decay on the experiment's outcomes.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be useful for high school students interested in experimental physics, particularly those exploring particle physics and interference phenomena.

khelzor
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
I'm a student in high school asking for suggestions for an experiment proposal.
So far, our idea has been to recreate Young's interference experiment, but instead of using electrons, we will use a heavier particle. Charged pions have been the first choice so far. Aluminum is the current delegate for the material used to direct pions into the slits. Right now, we are searching for a film to be used to detect the interference patterns made by the pions.
Are there any materials available to detect pions?

If anyone can also answer if pion decay would become a major problem in our experiment, it would be a great help :) Thanks
 
Physics news on Phys.org
A double-slit experiment with pions? What do you want to use as slit? Did you calculate how slow the pions have to be to see an interference pattern with any reasonable slit width? Where do you expect to get the slow pions from?
khelzor said:
Are there any materials available to detect pions?
Yes, but you are starting with the completely wrong step.
 
If there is a test you can perform in 5 minutes that can show you if your idea is feasible, do it directly. Don't spend hours on some details if this simple test can show you that further work is pointless.

CERN has a pion source, yes: a source of fast pions. Calculate their de-Broglie wavelength, then see which slit diameter you'll need for interference. Compare this to the diameter of an atom, or the diameter of an atomic nucleus.
 
mfb said:
If there is a test you can perform in 5 minutes that can show you if your idea is feasible, do it directly.

This is very good advice.

If you want to win this competition, you are going to have to significantly up your game. You're going to have to do your own research, not simply ask a bunch of people on the internet. And you're not even using the internet effectively. This experiment shows interference. If you Google "pion interference" you will get hundreds of hits. Some will be quite technical, but you are asking for a very valuable resource - the custodians of that resource will expect you to do your homework on this.

You should take a look at previous successful proposals. That's wwhat you need to do.
 

Similar threads

Undergrad Pion Decay Rate: Verifying Decay Rate Formula
  • · Replies 13 ·
Replies
13
Views
5K
Undergrad Progress In Calculating The HLbL Contribution To Muon g-2
  • · Replies 0 ·
Replies
0
Views
3K
Undergrad Single vs. Double slit coherence clarification please
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
2K
Undergrad Have You Heard of the SEW Experiment? Thoughts?
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
3K
High School What is causing destructive interference in double slit experiment?
  • · Replies 32 ·
2
Replies
32
Views
5K
Undergrad Many worlds and interference
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
3K
High School Yet another double slit thought experiment...
  • · Replies 20 ·
Replies
20
Views
2K
Undergrad How big a lunar radio telescope to detect Earth-like signals?
  • · Replies 19 ·
Replies
19
Views
3K
Undergrad Homemade double slit experiment
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
2K
Undergrad Is There A Study Showing The Observer Effect Ignoring Conscious Intent?
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
6K