During the great quantum revolution, wave were looked upon as a stream of particles.
Electromagnetic waves, during the classical era was elegantly described with four fundamental equations.
The great physicist behind these four fundamental equations also found that the electromagnetic waves travel at a fixed velocity, the velocity of light which is three hundred thousand metres per second.
However, in an attempt to explain the experimental results discrepancy due to the photoelectric effect, the great man behind the ideas of relativity himself postulated that electormagnetic waveswas actually a bundle of streaming particles named photons.
In short, all of a sudden, waves which represents a disturbance that could be propagated without the transfer of matter,were thenconsidered to be a stream of particles screeching through spacetime at the speed of light.
Therefore a young physicist, embarking on his postdoctoral thesis reasoned that if indeed waves could be seen as a stream of particles then there should not be any reason why particles cannot act like waves?
The primary fundamental difference between wave and particle is that wave can exhibit interference and diffraction properties.
What this young physicistpostulated wasthat with every particle therewas an associated wavelike properties and it’s wavelength could be calculated precisely in a formula developed by the young physicist himself.
Then again if indeed this wastrue that particles like a moving ball should exhibit diffraction properties, similar to diffraction of light, one that refers to the bending of light through a little aperture, we should then be able to detect it experimentally.
If indeed electron, being a particle could exhibit wavelike properties, then when an electron passed through a little aperture, diffraction patterns should be observed.
The great physicists who discovered electron as a particle won a Nobel prize for physics.
Ironically his son performed experiments to show that electrons could behave like a wave.
And he won a Nobel Prize for physics as well.
A father and son triumphed in their own way.
What an irony.
It onlydemonstrated thatthe postulate of the young physicist was true indeed.
That the world is actually symmetrical to a certain extent.
In this case, particles could exhibit wavelike behaviour while wave itself could demonstrate particle behavioral patterns.
Yet the most interesting part is that both wave and particle behaviour cannot be exhibited simultaneously.
It’s like the coin.
Either you get the head or the tail when you toss it in the air and let it drop to the ground.
You can never get both the head and the tail at the same time.
So quantum mechanics is probably not that weird after all.
Electromagnetic waves, during the classical era was elegantly described with four fundamental equations.
The great physicist behind these four fundamental equations also found that the electromagnetic waves travel at a fixed velocity, the velocity of light which is three hundred thousand metres per second.
However, in an attempt to explain the experimental results discrepancy due to the photoelectric effect, the great man behind the ideas of relativity himself postulated that electormagnetic waveswas actually a bundle of streaming particles named photons.
In short, all of a sudden, waves which represents a disturbance that could be propagated without the transfer of matter,were thenconsidered to be a stream of particles screeching through spacetime at the speed of light.
Therefore a young physicist, embarking on his postdoctoral thesis reasoned that if indeed waves could be seen as a stream of particles then there should not be any reason why particles cannot act like waves?
The primary fundamental difference between wave and particle is that wave can exhibit interference and diffraction properties.
What this young physicistpostulated wasthat with every particle therewas an associated wavelike properties and it’s wavelength could be calculated precisely in a formula developed by the young physicist himself.
Then again if indeed this wastrue that particles like a moving ball should exhibit diffraction properties, similar to diffraction of light, one that refers to the bending of light through a little aperture, we should then be able to detect it experimentally.
If indeed electron, being a particle could exhibit wavelike properties, then when an electron passed through a little aperture, diffraction patterns should be observed.
The great physicists who discovered electron as a particle won a Nobel prize for physics.
Ironically his son performed experiments to show that electrons could behave like a wave.
And he won a Nobel Prize for physics as well.
A father and son triumphed in their own way.
What an irony.
It onlydemonstrated thatthe postulate of the young physicist was true indeed.
That the world is actually symmetrical to a certain extent.
In this case, particles could exhibit wavelike behaviour while wave itself could demonstrate particle behavioral patterns.
Yet the most interesting part is that both wave and particle behaviour cannot be exhibited simultaneously.
It’s like the coin.
Either you get the head or the tail when you toss it in the air and let it drop to the ground.
You can never get both the head and the tail at the same time.
So quantum mechanics is probably not that weird after all.