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By admin | February 19, 2009
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Fun With Physics: The Quantum Mess: Wave-Particle Duality
It's well established that elementary particles can behave in experiments like waves, and waves behave like particles. It's called ‘Wave-Particle Duality' or just ‘Duality'. That duality isn't in doubt, but it is one of those aspects of the quantum that is puzzling. So, to explore a bit about this, I was interested in whether or not generalized wave behaviour, or generalized particle behaviour, seems to be predominant. If waves (or particles) could account for 90% that's quite a different kettle of fish than if it's a 50-50 split.
So, let's represent particles in motion (particles standing still are rather boring) by machine gun bullets. I'm sure we all agree bullets are particles. Let waves be presented by water waves or sound waves – again, I'm sure we can agree these are true waves or exhibit real wave behaviour. Now, can one or the other (maybe both) account for these particular bits of physics.
Reflection – Well, waves can reflect off of surfaces; so can bullets. No help.
Refraction – Refraction represents a change in velocity and direction when going from one medium to another. Both particles (bullets) and waves (water or sound) refract. Bullets fired in air towards water will alter direction and slow down when hitting the water. A water wave will change speed and direction if the bottom conditions change – say become shallower and more on one side of the wave than the other. No help.
Density – Particles slow down as the density of the medium increases. Bullets go farther and faster in a vacuum than in air; faster in air than in a liquid; and they don't really travel all that well through solids. Solids really cramp their style. Waves, as represented by sound, don't travel at all in a vacuum; slowly in air; faster in liquid; faster still in a solid. So what do elementary particles do in experiments? They tend to exhibit pure particle behaviour. Stuff tends to impede their progress. If photons were waves, they couldn't (seemingly) travel in a vacuum. It's one vote for particles.
Energy Transfer - Water waves can convey energy; ditto sound waves – thunder can rattle windows. If you get hit with a bullet, well particles too can carry and transfer energy. No help.
Collisions – Fire two machine gun bullet streams at right angles to each other, or head on for that matter. While you'll get lots of misses, you're bound to get some impacts and scattering too. Two waves crossing at right angles, or meaning head on, ultimately pass right through one another. Photons (light beams) pass through one another; but electrons or protons or neutrons collide (in particle accelerators). It's a draw.
Obstacles – Water waves will tend to go around small obstacles, like rocks or boats they encounter, but not large obstacles, like a coastline. Sound waves might find a large obstacle too big to circumnavigate and bounce off instead. But sound waves will go around a chair in middle of your living room where your speakers are. Hiding behind the chair won't eliminate the sound. But hiding behind a rock or boat or chair though when the bad guys show up firing their bullets just might protect you. Substitute the bullets with a flashlight beam (light photons). Well, you're protected. Light doesn't go around corners. Substitute the bullets with radio energy photons. Well, you're not protected. That suggests waves and obstacle size are both relevant. But electrons, neutrons or protons – well a rock or chair should shield you. It seems to be a draw again.
Escape Routes – A wave (water or sound) can go through an open door or through two (or more) open doors side-by-side at the same time (and cause constructive and destructive interference on the other side). A bullet can go through one door or another door (if there are two side-by-side), but not through both at the same time. It's an either/or proposition. Even firing lots of bullets will provide an either/or situation for each individual bullet. There will be no interference pattern on the other side. So what do real micro particles do? Well, both. One door (or slit), it's bullets time. Two doors or slits, its wave time because you get interference patterns. So, overall, it's a vote for a wave, since a wave won't be expected to produce an interference pattern going through just one door. BUT it's here where Mother Nature (mom) goes off the deep end, because if you fire your micro particles at a very slot rate at the two doors, you'd expect that each particle will be faced with an either/or choice, and thus no interference pattern should form. Mom says otherwise, and mom rules, OK?
So, for all this pondering, I'm left with one vote for particles; one vote for waves. It just apparently reaffirms that wave-particle duality is real, and here to stay.
About the Author
Science librarian; retired.
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