Wave-Particle Duality

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Wave-Like and Particle-Like Properties

Wave-Like

  • Can be reflected
  • Can be refracted
  • Can be Diffracted

Particle-Like

  • Photoelectric Effect
  • Electromagnetic radiation travels as a wave and interacts as a particle. This is reality and is difficult (if not impossible) to truly understand as a model.
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Particles As Waves?

  • Electrons are particles however when they are passed at high speed through a small gap they create a pattern on the other side
  • This pattern can only be created by something that is travelling as a wave
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De Broglie Waves

  • In 1923 Louis De Broglie hypothesised that if a particle travelled as a wave with sufficiently long wavelength then wave-like properties would become visible:

λ [DB] = h / p = h / mv

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