All Questions
Tagged with wavefunction wave-particle-duality
84
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What is the relationship between an electron's wave-like and particle-like qualities? Is "Electrons are waves and particles" the whole truth? [duplicate]
Upon researching the double-slit experiment, it seems to me that electrons are somehow cloaked in wavelike behavior (not at all like my previous idea that electrons were waves and somehow were also ...
6
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2
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182
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Is each INDIVIDUAL photon a PHYSICAL wave? [closed]
Sigh.
So I've scoured the internet for many many hours, on many many occasions... aaand, yeah.
Is light:
just ONE photon which acts like a physical wave as those seen in classical mechanics (if so, ...
- 69
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1
answer
108
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Relation between the wavelength and the particle-wave duality
I will go straight into an example. Let's take the case of an electron of mass $m$ confined in an infinite 1D box of width $a$. Solving the Schrödinger equation and pay attention to the boundary ...
- 113
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325
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De Broglie wavelength and the wave packets
Constructing a wave packet requires adding (superposing) many (if not infinite) plane waves of different wavevectors. A single plane wave has a well-defined wavelength, and hence, from de Broglie
$$p =...
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How does shape of a wavefunction changes as it encounters a potential barrier?
A particle of mass and energy $E > 0$ in one dimension is scattered by the potential
below
If the particle was moving from $x = -\infty$ to $x= +\infty$, which of the following graphs gives
the ...
- 333
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241
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Why do we treat particles as standing waves in QP?
The Quantum Physics course I am taking starts with the Classical Wave Equation and a statement that we treat quantum particles as standing waves.
The explanation they give is that most of the time ...
17
votes
4
answers
3k
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Why does the Heisenberg uncertainty principle apply to particles?
This might be a slightly naive question, and if so I apologize, but I am currently a little confused as to why the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle should apply to particles, i.e. our system (say an ...
- 249
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Objection to interpretation of quantum mechanical wave function being wave
I am currently studying Quantum mechanics (first time) from Ballentine's book. In Chapter 4, he objects the idea of associating wave functions, which are solutions of Schrödinger equation in position ...
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3
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Difference between a quantum wavefunction and a wave
When reading about quantum wavefunctions, I understood that different subshells have different "shapes" of orbitals, which describe the probability density of the electron. The orbital "...
- 303
2
votes
1
answer
71
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How exactly does wavefunction of an electron change when it ceases being part of an atom?
This is a followup of How are electrons really moving in an atom?
As it happens, reading answers to that question I, instead of understanding more, lost some of my previous understanding.
Particularly,...
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Can we measure a lower limit of the velocity with which a quantum mechanical wave function collapses?
According to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, a wave function collapses immediately and everywhere. This seems to imply that this happens at an infinite velocity. However, if the ...
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How can an electron be a point particle but also a wavefunction?
A point particle is a point in space of a fixed co-ordinate. However, the wavefunction must always be spread out in space to be normalizable to unity.
- 949
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5
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12k
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Does a wave function not collapse upon detection?
In Sabine Hossenfelder’s YouTube video “The Delayed Choice Quantum Eraser, Debunked”, she states that even if you detect which slit the wave function goes through (in the double-slit experiment) then ...
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3
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210
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If quantum particles are always waves, then what are we really measuring the position, angular momentum, spin etc. of?
I've been losing sleep trying to marry, in the usual QM formulation we've been learning, what my lecturer said in our problems class a few weeks back - 'quantum particles are never particles (in the ...
- 49
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461
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Comparing momentum of electron and photon and the correct usage of electron volt
I was trying to solve this question where we had a photon and an electron with the same energy $E$, and we were asked to compare their momentum.
I know, for photons we have $E=p_{\gamma}c$ and for ...
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