Practice question · Put in order
Order these milestones in the history of wave physics.
- Maxwell unifies electricity, magnetism, and light as EM waves
- Huygens proposes wave theory of light
- Fresnel develops full wave optics (diffraction)
- Hertz experimentally confirms EM waves
- Young demonstrates double-slit interference
Hints
- The wave picture was proposed long before it was experimentally decisive.
- Electromagnetic unification came after the optical evidence.
Show the answer
- Huygens proposes wave theory of light
- Young demonstrates double-slit interference
- Fresnel develops full wave optics (diffraction)
- Maxwell unifies electricity, magnetism, and light as EM waves
- Hertz experimentally confirms EM waves
Why
Wave theory developed from Huygens (1678) through Young (1801), Fresnel (1820s), Maxwell (1865) to Hertz (1887).
Practise Superposition, Interference, and Standing Waves
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