Wikipedia:WikiProject Physics/Worklist of central experiments

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Please, add any missing ‘’’central experiments’’’ in their respective category, and update any status field!

Also, a template to put in each article is being developed.

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Contents

[edit] Atomic theory

Article Relevance Status
Franck-Hertz experiment Investigation and support of Bohr model of the atom Good start level page
Gas emission spectrum experiment Kicked off the discovery of new chemical elements and atomic physics History covered in Spectrum analysis, good experimental page missing?
Lomonosov-Lavoisier experiment Boosted atomistic theories by demonstrating the conservation of mass in chemical reactions Missing, but explained in biographic articles.
Millikan's Oil-drop experiment Charge of the electron established Article describes mostly the generic experiment, more historical, more picture. Improving to GA-Article

[edit] Classical mechanics

Article Relevance Status
Foucault pendulum Direct demonstration of rotation of earth solid article, with referencing and editing could be a GA

[edit] Cosmology

Article Relevance Status
Hubble and Humason's discovery of Hubble's law Big Bang Good Article
Penzias-Wilson microwave detection Hot Big Bang theory Within "Discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation" (Start?)
COBE FIRAS experiment Crucial test of hot big bang (black body temp curve) Subsection in COBE, start class
COBE DMR experiment Crucial test of cosmic inflation Subsection in COBE, start class
High-z supernova observation Unexpected results show accelerating expansion Small stubs at High-z Supernova Search Team and Supernova Cosmology Project, subsection in Dark energy

[edit] Optics

Article Relevance Status
Young's Double-slit experiment Wave nature of light Reasonable coverage in article on generic experiment, more historical background would be nice

[edit] Classical electromagnetism

Article Relevance Status
1887 Heinrich Rudolf Hertz EM-wave transmission First wireless communication Start quality in bio

[edit] Quantum fields

Article Relevance Status
Lamb-Retherford experiment Inspired and tested Quantum electrodynamics (QED) Larger section in Lamb shift article.
Landé g-factor experiment of the electron Critical test of Quantum electrodynamics (QED) Missing. Some text in Anomalous magnetic dipole moment and Landé g-factor

[edit] Forces and fields

Article Relevance Status
Lamb shift discovery (Lamb-Retherford experiment?) Inspired and tested Quantum electrodynamics (QED) Larger section in Lamb shift article.
Landé g-factor experiment of the electron Critical test of Quantum electrodynamics (QED) Missing. Some text in Anomalous magnetic dipole moment and Landé g-factor

[edit] General and special relativity

Article Relevance Status
Hulse-Taylor binary pulsar Indirect confirmation of the existence of gravitational radiation strong stub in PSR B1913+16
Pound-Rebka experiment Direct test of the gravitational redshift of light strong stub
Eddington experiment Direct test of the gravitational deflection of light discussed in Arthur Stanley Eddington and tests of GR
Hafele-Keating experiment Test of SR and GR time dilation (velocity and gravity difference) B-class, needs improvement, under dispute on inclusion of GPS
Kaufmann-Neumann experiment First test of relativistic mass increase. Initially thought to be at odds with STR missing
Ives-Stilwell experiment Crucial test of SR.  ?
Kennedy-Thorndike experiment Crucial test of SR.  ?
Michelson-Morley experiment Unexpected result led to questions in pre-SR theory GA?

[edit] Newtonian gravity

Article Relevance Status
Eötvös experiment classical equivalence principle stub in Loránd Eötvös
Cavendish experiment established the value of the Newton constant strong stub

[edit] Nuclear structure

Article Relevance Status
Chadwick experiment Identifying the neutron Section in James Chadwick, stubby start?
Geiger-Marsden experiment a.k.a. Rutherford experiment Atomic nucleus (Rutherford model) B-quality
Hahn-Strassmann discovery of fission Unexpected nuclear reaction Under Nuclear fission#History

[edit] Particles and symmetries

Article Relevance Status
Anderson's cosmic ray experiment Proved the existance of antimatter Missing, mentioned in positron and Carl David Anderson
Cowan and Reines neutrino experiment Direct detection of the neutrino B-class
Cronin-Fitch experiment Discovery of CP-violation Subsection in CP-violation, start
Parity_violation in β-decay Parity_violation in weak interactions verified missing (Chien-Shiung Wu)
Thomson cathode ray tube experiments Identified the electron via mass-to-charge ratio Part of Electron
UA1 and UA2 Discovery of the W and Z bosons Stubs. But also see W and Z bosons.

[edit] Quantum mechanics

Article Relevance Status
Davisson-Germer experiment Wave–particle duality for electrons stub, see also [1], [2], [3], [4]
Aspect experiments Series of tests of QM using CHSH inequality and similar predictions Missing (mentioned in "Bell_test_experiments")
Clauser and Horne's 1974 Bell test Tests of QM using CHSH inequality B-class and under dispute
Stern-Gerlach experiment Discovery of spin of electron/atom looks reasonably complete; no class rating

[edit] Solid state

Article Relevance Status
Bragg diffraction Proved the periodic structure of atoms within certain solids B-class, concentrates mostly on theory
Onnes experiment Superconductivity discovered by Onnes Missing. Section in History of superconductivity

[edit] Thermodynamics and Statistical mechanics

Article Relevance Status
Joule experiment Mechanical equivalent of heat established start quality in James_Prescott_Joule#The_mechanical_equivalent_of_heat
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