Optimising simple experiments

Abstract

The question is at least worth asking: in relying on so-called evidence or an obligation to simplify, is there not a danger of losing the flavour, or even the very substance of physics? Illustrated above by apparently simple questions, this question can be reversed by a stimulating suggestion: with regard to the most insignificant question, a consistent line of physical reasoning may offer the support for a conceptual advance and, dare we say it, intellectual satisfaction. Depending on the manner in which it is set out, “simplicity” may be revealed as being either suspicious or, quite the contrary, very useful.