Wave-Particle Duality: Difference between revisions
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==The Main Idea== | ==The Main Idea== | ||
In the 1920s, a French physicist named [[Louis de Broglie]] suggested that all matter has wave-like properties. This conclusion was largely the result of two landmark experiments that contradicted each other in almost every way. The first experiment was Thomas Young's double slit experiment, which showed light behaved like a wave. The second experiment was by Albert Einstein, who showed, through his research on the photoelectric effect, that | In the 1920s, a French physicist named [[Louis de Broglie]] suggested that all matter has wave-like properties. This conclusion was largely the result of two landmark experiments that contradicted each other in almost every way. The first experiment was Thomas Young's double slit experiment, which showed light behaved like a wave. The second experiment was by Albert Einstein, who showed, through his research on the photoelectric effect, that light was made up of discrete packets of energy called photons -- which meant that light also behaved as a particle. This contradiction sent the world of physics as humans knew it into panic. | ||
===Double slit experiment=== | ===Double slit experiment=== | ||
The double slit experiment is a deceptively simple experiment that was originally conducted by Thomas Young in the 17th century. In the experiment | The double slit experiment is a deceptively simple experiment that was originally conducted by Thomas Young in the 17th century. In the experiment, Young simply sent a beam of light through two slits and observed the pattern on the surface behind the slits. What he saw was an interference pattern that only could have been present if waves were what went inside two slits. The bright spots occur where the amplitudes of the two waves match (both waves are at their peaks) and the dark spots occur when one wave is at its maximum amplitude and the other is at its minimum. | ||
[[File:Single slit and double slit2.jpg|Single slit and double slit2]] | |||
===A Mathematical Model=== | ===A Mathematical Model=== | ||
Revision as of 13:03, 2 December 2015
This topic claimed by VJ Servera
Wave-particle duality is the concept that states every elementary particle behaves like both a wave and a particle.
The Main Idea
In the 1920s, a French physicist named Louis de Broglie suggested that all matter has wave-like properties. This conclusion was largely the result of two landmark experiments that contradicted each other in almost every way. The first experiment was Thomas Young's double slit experiment, which showed light behaved like a wave. The second experiment was by Albert Einstein, who showed, through his research on the photoelectric effect, that light was made up of discrete packets of energy called photons -- which meant that light also behaved as a particle. This contradiction sent the world of physics as humans knew it into panic.
Double slit experiment
The double slit experiment is a deceptively simple experiment that was originally conducted by Thomas Young in the 17th century. In the experiment, Young simply sent a beam of light through two slits and observed the pattern on the surface behind the slits. What he saw was an interference pattern that only could have been present if waves were what went inside two slits. The bright spots occur where the amplitudes of the two waves match (both waves are at their peaks) and the dark spots occur when one wave is at its maximum amplitude and the other is at its minimum.
A Mathematical Model
What are the mathematical equations that allow us to model this topic. For example [math]\displaystyle{ {\frac{d\vec{p}}{dt}}_{system} = \vec{F}_{net} }[/math] where p is the momentum of the system and F is the net force from the surroundings.
A Computational Model
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Examples
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