The wave-particle-duality tag has no wiki summary.
15
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7answers
1k views
Is the wave-particle duality a real duality?
I often hear about the wave-particle duality, and how particles exhibit properties of both particles and waves. I most recently heard this in this video. However, I wonder; is this actually a duality? ...
7
votes
4answers
1k views
Why is the speed-of-light “the upper limit” rather than the speed of “particle type X”?
Basically, I can't stop wondering why light (the photon) is so special, compared to all the other particles known (and unknown) to modern day physics.
Could it be that there exists an upper limit on ...
6
votes
3answers
562 views
Does the uncertainty principle apply to photons?
Wikipedia claims the following:
More generally, the normal concept of a Schrödinger probability wave function cannot be applied to photons. Being massless, they cannot be localized without being ...
6
votes
4answers
344 views
$\lambda=\frac{2h}{p}$?
I am studying quantum physics and there is something I don't understand:
I know that for any particle $E=hf$ (Einstein relation) and $v=\lambda f$ ($v$ is the speed of the particle).
I also know that ...
6
votes
1answer
88 views
Will a football (soccer) diffract?
Apparently all objects have wavelike properties, so, if we kick a football (soccer ball, if you must) through a pair of posts, does the ball in any sense diffract?
If this is ridiculous then let me ...
5
votes
2answers
146 views
De Broglie wavelength, frequency and velocity - interpretation
Two fundamental equations regarding wave-particle duality are:
$$ \lambda = \frac{h}{p},
\\
\nu = E/h .$$
We talk about de Broglie wavelength, is it meaningful to talk about de Broglie frequency ...
5
votes
3answers
531 views
Electrons - What is Waving?
If an electron is a wave, what is waving?
So many answers on the internet say "the probability that a particle will be at a particular location"... so... the electron is a physical manifestation of ...
4
votes
4answers
643 views
Why does observation collapse the wave function?
In one of the first lectures on QM we are always taught about Young's experiment and how particles behave either as waves or as particles depending on whether or not they are being observed. I want to ...
4
votes
4answers
422 views
What does a de Broglie wave look like?
What does a de Broglie wave look like?
Are de Broglie waves transverse or longitudinal?
Can they be polarized?
What about the de Broglie wave of a ground state neutral spin-zero Helium 4 atom?
...
4
votes
5answers
439 views
What do we actually mean when we say that matter is a wave?
What do we actually mean when we say that matter is a wave?
What does the wavelength of this matter wave indicate?
The idea of a particle behaving like a wave is kinda incomprehensible to me.
...
4
votes
3answers
353 views
Young's experiment or why the light can't be described as a particle [closed]
Who hasn't heard about the double-slit experiment? It figures in any book of quantum physics. But there is something no one can explain to me : I understand why the light cannot be described only as a ...
4
votes
1answer
350 views
The nature of time, according to quantum field theory
I will try my best to ask the question that best fits something I have been pondering on for a few days.
Are virtual particles really constantly popping in and out of
existence? Or are they ...
4
votes
3answers
258 views
What is the experiment where subatomic particles appear to foresee the future?
I've seen a documentary, whose name I don't remember but I'm curious because it suggests that subatomic particles are able to "foresee the future".
I'll try to describe it here:
Some particles are ...
3
votes
4answers
471 views
Isn't wave particle duality of light actually cheating?
When answering questions about light, I see that we conveniently shift between wave and particle nature of light to match the answer-- isn't this really cheating?
Or, is it the principle that the ...
3
votes
2answers
285 views
Matter waves - DeBroglie's relations
I am currently studying from Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers by Taylor et al. They derive the DeBroglie relation $p=h/\lambda$ from setting mass $m=0$ in the energy-momentum relation ...
3
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4answers
319 views
What does it mean (how is it visualized) for a particle to act as a wave?
I have no background in physics. This isn't for homework, just for interest.
In quantum physics, it's described that a particle can act as both a particle and a wave.
Quoted from HowStuffWorks ...
3
votes
2answers
147 views
Which equation tells you the minimum energy of a wave needed to see a small particle?
I have a problem that asks for the minimum energy of a wave that we will use to see a particle of size $.1\text{ nm}$. I understand that I can not see a $.1\text{ nm}$ particle with any wave length ...
3
votes
4answers
174 views
slit-screen and wave-particle duality
In a double-slit experiment, interference patterns are shown when lights pass through slits and illuminate the screen. So, the question is if one shoots a single photon, does the screen show ...
3
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3answers
198 views
The Dual Nature of Matter
I can't seem to understand the dual nature of matter completely.
If electrons have a wave nature, then if two electrons were to collide, wouldn't they undergo interference and form an electron wave ...
3
votes
1answer
261 views
wavefunction collapse and uncertainty principle
We all know that wavefunction collapse when it is observed. Uncertainty principle states that $\sigma_x \sigma_p \geq \frac {\hbar}{2}$. When wavefunction collapse, doesn't $\sigma_x$ become $0$?, as ...
3
votes
2answers
74 views
How does the wavelength change in relativistic limit?
In the text, it reads that the momentum of a particle will change if it is moving at speed close to light speed. In the general case, the wavelength is given as
$$
\lambda = \frac{h}{p}
$$
and
$$p ...
3
votes
1answer
112 views
Determining the spin of wavefunction
We all know that by uncertainty principle, location of a wave-particle is perfectly determined when uncertainty of momentum becomes infinite. (I also heard that in reality, it is almost impossible to ...
2
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3answers
973 views
Newton's corpuscular theory
Where did Newton get the idea that light had a particle nature and not a wave nature? At those times, AFAICT there were no phenomena that showed particle nature. But wave nature is much easier to ...
2
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5answers
218 views
wave superposition of electrons and quarks
Is quantum wave superposition of electrons and quarks possible?
If not, can different types of elementary particles be mixed in wave superposition?
2
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2answers
68 views
Interpretation of de Broglie wave
Until what point can the de Broglie wave be thought as a real wave?
I mean, is it made of something?
What amplitude does it have? Is it a sine wave?
How can it be related to the wavefunction of the ...
2
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2answers
109 views
Is wave–particle duality considered a valid interpretation of the behavior of photons?
There are a number of questions on this site that explain the many wave-like behaviors of photons by making reference to wave-particle duality.
However, I have just finished reading Feynman's book ...
2
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3answers
109 views
What does it mean that a wavevector is null?
I have derived geometric optics for gravitational waves and I am trying to interpret one of the results. I have
\begin{equation}
k_{\rho}k^{\rho}=0
\end{equation}
for the wavevector. For the case ...
2
votes
4answers
819 views
Can an electron be in two places at the same time?
So I've been reading a bit and watching some videos about the double slit experiment, and therefore the wave particle duality; I've also read this "implies" that a particle can be in two places at the ...
2
votes
1answer
321 views
How can a Photon have a “frequency”?
I picture a light ray as composed of photons with an energy equal to the frequency of the light ray according to E=hf. Is this the good way to picture this? Although I can solve elementary problems ...
2
votes
1answer
67 views
Difference between electromagnetic radiation (EMR) and Electromagnetic Field?
I'm a freshly graduated electrical engineer. One course that I really struggled with was Field Theory, because it was a lovely assortment of vector calculus and things that were explained to me well ...
2
votes
1answer
108 views
Quantum mechanics and Couder experiments
Couder experiments ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=W9yWv5dqSKk and https://hekla.ipgp.fr/IMG/pdf/Couder-Fort_PRL_2006.pdf), published in 2006, state that by dropping ...
2
votes
1answer
128 views
Deducing from the double slit experiment that electrons mostly behave like particles
I saw this video of a lecture by Feynman where he said that electrons behave like particles when there is a photon source to detect which slit they pass through. Does this imply that electrons mostly ...
1
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3answers
201 views
How do we know particles exist? Aren't they just waves?
In the book "A Briefer History of Time" Stephen Hawking wrote:
The unpredictable, random element comes in only when we try to
interpret the wave in terms of the positions and velocities of
...
1
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4answers
157 views
wave-particle duality
I have been trying to understand "wave-particle duality" and other cases related to it. I am currently a college level student. I have few question which I am not getting answers clearly.
In double ...
1
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1answer
138 views
electrons in an atom and uncertainty principle
Electrons in an atom have quantized energy quantity. Can uncertainty principle be applied in this case, then?
How does this work?
As energy is fixed, this seems to disobey $\Delta E \Delta t \geq ...
1
vote
4answers
407 views
Questions on wave-particle duality
Wave-particle duality states that a particle has both wave properties and particle properties when one is not observing it.
1) What is an observer? Need it be anything living or can other particles ...
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1answer
76 views
Is this mental picture of photon correct?
What is exactly meant by a statement like "there are about 400 photons per cubic cm in certain region"? Should I mentally picture this as 400 discrete photons enclosed in that volume, each moving at ...
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2answers
186 views
What is light, and how can it travel in a vacuum forever in all directions at once without a medium?
I know there are many questions that are similar (maybe identical?). I am not a physicist nor a student - I am just interested in physics and have been watching many physics channels on youtube ...
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2answers
176 views
Particles vs Waves
As I remember long ago, in my physics classes, I always had a great trouble understanding the concept of waves. Our professor used to explain, as if everything in this world is made up of waves.
...
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1answer
254 views
Photons and uncertainty principle
Let's assume we have a perfect single-photon source: a device emitting exactly one photon at a time, with defined energy and direction. Let's shoot a photon: we know exactly the position of the photon ...
1
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1answer
95 views
Matter wave of multiple particles of different types
I am slightly getting confused on the following issue:
When performing double-slit experiment of electrons, a screen allows the matter waves to be detected as particles. And as we all know that ...
1
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0answers
148 views
Splitting light into colors, mathematical expression (fourier transforms)
I am trying to solve a problem that includes a function of the light hitting a certain area. My question is, how would I change a function $G(x)$ of photons hitting a certain area to include just ...
0
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4answers
242 views
Are there theories that explain wave-particle duality?
I'm confused by the famous wave-particle duality mystery:
When a particle is left unobserved, it acts like a wave and can explore all classically available particle trajectories simultaneously. By ...
0
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4answers
179 views
Why are electrons consider waves?
I know the wave nature of electrons was evoked to explain why atoms are stable but I thought waves could be put in the same state like photons yet electrons can not exist in the same state.
0
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4answers
188 views
Wave/particle duality
Apologies if this has been asked before (I did check and I believe it wasn't). I have a question about the particle/wave duality of photons (or other particles). Depending on what and how we measure ...
0
votes
2answers
536 views
Frequency of an Electron
My question is very simple.
If frequency is defined as the cylces per unit time, Then what is meant by "Frequency of an Electron" ? If the rotation of electron around a nucleus is considered then, ...
0
votes
2answers
207 views
matter wave and wave function
Is there any mathematical relationship between matter wave (or de Broglie wave) and wave function?
Also, does each type of particle (e.g. photon, electron, positron etc.) have its own unique wave ...
0
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1answer
46 views
how quantum-mechanical particles react in the potential?
I am reading some materials on quantum mechanics. I am a bit confusing in the chapter on wave-particle duality and following questions arise
In classical mechanics, the force a particle experience is ...
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0answers
35 views
Do the other properties of a particle also have a phase?
Particles have a phase that oscillates in space-time. We know this because particles have a phase frequency (De Broglie wavelength) and this is why they interfere in space, like in the double slit ...
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0answers
46 views
An idea about the simultaneous observation of wave and particle property of light [closed]
It is well known that in a double-slit experiment with single photon source, one can not obtain the which-way info and interference pattern at the same time, since a detector placed behind one slit ...
