Wave Particle Duality

Observing Light on a normal day to day life routine can give us a lot of knowledge about its behaviour. The wide spectrum and range of differentiation within a single beam of visible light is a lot.  Reflection, interference, diffraction, and refractions are certain attributes that are a part of the light and its behaviour under various circumstances. The wave particle duality tells you about the nature and particle of light.

Introduction to Wave Particle Duality

One can understand wave particle duality via the behaviour of light. Diffraction and interference of light explain that it behaves as a wave. The photoelectric influence explains that it consists of particles. The phenomenon is Wave particle duality.  It is also quite relevant for objects as well. The electron to football everything is assumed that it exhibits Wave-particle duality.

The nature of the particle dominates in the case of large objects while wave and particle nature are shown by smaller objects. The electron shows the same interference pattern similar to light when they are passed through the double slit.

Theories of Wave Particle Duality

In chemistry and physics, matter and light have particle-like attributes. The phenomena get focus by physicists. The waves behave the same as particles and particles behave similarly to waves. This Wave-particle duality has many theories. Moreover, we still follow certain theories.

• The De Broglie wavelength

This theory was suggested by Louis de Broglie in 1923. The wave-particle is the same for the matter. It is true when the electron and neutron beams were directed on crystal and diffraction patterns were depicted. He said that particle matter has momentum (p) and linked wavelength (^). ^= h/p. The same equation is for photons too. He also said that wave attributes can be observed in small objects.

• Newton’s Corpuscular theory

Newton said that light composes of corpuscles. These corpuscles travel in straight lines. The law of reflection justifies the wave feature of light if it bounces off from a planar surface after reflection. However, in the case of refraction, the light moves slowly in dense material that tells about the particle-like nature of light.

• Huygens Wave theory

It was proposed by Huygens in 1678. The theory states that every point of the light waveform is a source of a spherical wave. It greatly supports the theory by physicists like Kirchhoff and Fresnel.

• Quantum view of the light

The light depicting particle properties on a quantum atoms scale is proven by the photoelectric effect. Moreover, the theory said that there will be particle treatment of light refraction by obtaining adequate localization of energy for the ejection of electrons from the surface.

• Duality of Photons

A single photon can showcase a distinctive interference fringe. This property is visible when light is in a very weak state due to an extremely high brightness index. Thus, when light projects on a large screen in this state, it creates a scattering towards the border. We refer to this phenomenon as the Duality of Photons.

Wrap up on Wave Particle Duality

The wave-particle duality has been under research for quite many years. Many physicists have derived theories that summarize the existence of wave-particle matter duality. Further, it has been depicted that the larger the wave amplitude the larger is the probability of finding the particle.

You can also see the opposite of it. The probability of looking for the electron is smaller in the case of smaller wave amplitude. Thus, when electron emission takes place then the kinetic energy gets released. The greater is the intensity; the greater is the release of energy. This also raises that wave is proportional to amplitude.

FAQ on Wave Particle Duality

Question 1: Who invented the Wave Particle Duality?

Answer 1: In the year 1924, a  French physicist by the name of Louis de Broglie postulated the theory that electrons and other components of matter have a distinctive wavelength and frequency.

Question 2: How is light both a wave and a particle?

Answer 2: Albert Einstein stated in his theory of light that photons, one of the primary components of light, flow in the form of waves. However, using Einstein’s own Quantum theory of Light he was also able to justify that light energy is directly relatable to its own Oscillating frequency.

Question 3: Why is wave particle duality important?

Answer 3: The behavioural analysis of light and matter can simultaneously solve by using the differential equation of wave function. Moreover, this was the most significant derivative of Wave Particle Duality developed using the Schrodinger equation.