Mage Adam-Chapter "359"

He spoke, but felt that his dry words lacked persuasiveness, so he raised his hand and released a beam of electrons: 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

“This is the microscopic particle you first discovered and named. You called it the electron, did you not? Doesn’t this itself prove that you, in your heart, also acknowledge it as a particle? Otherwise, why not call it an electric wave instead?”

Another Archmage rose and continued:

“And what about protons and neutrons? Isn’t fission precisely because neutrons enter into the uranium nucleus? They have real mass!”

Their words ignited the crowd. They could accept that particles possessed particle-like properties, but they could not accept that particles could also exhibit wave-like properties. One after another they stood up to refute Adam’s theory, and in an instant, Adam became the target of a thousand accusations.

Adam remained calm as he looked at them. He did not immediately offer an explanation, for at this moment, words were powerless. Only the reality of experimental phenomena carried true weight.

The three hierarchs were likewise puzzled, but since they had heard Adam’s explanation beforehand, they were mentally prepared. They chose not to voice doubt — they believed that since Adam dared to speak in such a manner, he must possess genuine evidence to prove it. Otherwise, to recklessly spout nonsense would only bring ruin upon himself.

His Excellency Croft gave a cold snort, and the mages subconsciously fell silent and sat back down.

“Everyone, silence. Maintain at least the minimum of respect and dignity!”

Adam’s tone did not waver in the slightest.

“First, light is an electromagnetic wave. On this point — does anyone here have objections?”

The mages replied with silence.

Adam projected the electromagnetic spectrum onto the light-screen.

“This is the spectrum I established according to my electromagnetic wave theory. It may not be complete, but it is highly accurate. You can all see — light, or rather, visible light that ordinary lifeforms can perceive with their eyes, lies at the very center of the spectrum. It possesses both wave-like and particle-like properties.

If we take it as the midpoint, then in the low-energy radiation range, wave-like properties are more apparent, while in the high-energy radiation range, particle-like properties are more dominant. I won’t elaborate further — if you are interested, you may read my papers; the arguments are comprehensive.”

“The reason light is visible to us,” Adam continued, manifesting a photon in his palm. Although the others could not see it, they could feel its presence.

“I call this a photon. It too is a microscopic particle. And as just demonstrated, it possesses wave–particle duality.”

“But perhaps photons exist only within visible light. Perhaps they are merely a special kind of microscopic particle,” another Archmage challenged.

Adam did not answer with words. He simply adjusted the light-screen, revealing the atomic model with its electron orbits clearly displayed.

“Everyone knows that atoms consist of a nucleus and extranuclear electrons. Electrons orbit within the atom. Depending on their distance from the nucleus, their energies differ. When an electron falls from a higher-energy orbit to a lower-energy orbit, it releases a photon.”

In recent times, they had been working daily with atomic models, constantly encountering the phenomenon of energy-level transitions. They all knew electrons moved, and could both absorb and release energy.

“Even if photons are indeed produced in this way, what evidence do you have that photons and electrons share the same properties? Does giving birth to a child mean they must be identical in body and temperament to me? What if I give birth to a boy? What if this boy is mentally deficient?” A female Archmage’s voice was sharp and cutting.

His Excellency Croft barked:

“Boli, watch your tongue! Show some dignity!”

Adam sighed inwardly. He had thought the real difficulty lay only in the incredible phenomena of the double-slit experiment. He had not expected that even the simple concept of wave–particle duality alone would provoke such resistance.

“Lady Boli, please be patient. The wave–particle duality of the electron — I will prove in the next experiment.”

Adam personally stepped onto the experimental platform. His clones swiftly arranged the equipment: several barrier plates with slits of different sizes, a display screen, a maximum-output observation magic array, and more.

Once preparations were complete, Adam began with a macroscopic interference experiment.

“First, we need to observe more intuitively the manifestations of particle-like and wave-like properties on the macroscopic level. For that, I designed this experiment.”

He activated the launcher, which randomly fired countless colored balls, each five millimeters in diameter, at the barrier plate. Some were blocked and fell to the ground, while a small number passed through at various heights and struck the display screen.

“You can all see, these balls — which I am using to represent particles — after passing through the barrier, gather in roughly the same linear region on the screen.” He switched to a barrier with two slits. “With two slits, the result is basically the same.”

Next, a clone brought out a container of water and repeated the process. When water waves passed through a single slit, the result on the display resembled that of the balls. But when passing through two slits, if the crest of one wave met the trough of another, they canceled out, producing multiple interference fringes on the screen. Where crests met, brightness was greatest; where waves canceled, nothing appeared.

The crowd nodded silently. This experiment was intuitive and easy to understand — a clear demonstration of wave and particle properties.

Adam continued:

“Now, let us observe under the same conditions how electrons behave. Please, pay close attention.”

Some mages clenched their fists unconsciously.

The equipment was changed. The slit in the single-slit barrier was now invisible to the naked eye, and the electron emission source was a specially crafted device.

When streams of electrons passed through the single-slit barrier, the display showed exactly what everyone expected: the same result as the colored balls.

A mage leapt to his feet and shouted:

“Look! Electrons are the same. They are particles, not waves!”

“This is your own experiment — and you’ve just disproven your own theory!”

“Wave–particle duality of electrons? Nonsense!”

The scene instantly descended into chaos, voices rising in relentless rebuttal as they pounced on what they saw as a fatal flaw in Adam’s argument.

His Excellency Meyer, unable to endure further, roared:

“Silence! Adam hasn’t even finished the experiment! What do you think you’re doing? Those who don’t wish to watch — get out!”

Adam gratefully inclined his head to Meyer, then silently replaced the barrier with the second one and continued the experiment without a word.

The result appeared — and it shook the chamber like thunder.

“How can this be?!”

“Why is this happening?!”

“Impossible! They are clearly particles — how can they display the same phenomenon as waves?!”

“I don’t believe it! I demand to inspect your apparatus!”