Talking about both photons and electrons. Uncertainty principle is about position and momentum, but electron is considered wave?
We have mathematical model of light being EM Waves, what does it being particle even mean?
In: 2
A particle is just a very narrow wave!
When they say that something is a (probability) wave, this describes some chances, for example of the location of the thing. Chances are usually highest in the middle and then it falls of radially in some way. It turns out to form wave-like shape when done correctly, hence the name.
The area under the wave is kinda fixed, as the probability of being _anywhere_ is 100%. So you can either have a long-reaching and flat wave, or a very perky and narrow one. The former describes a large uncertainty about the location (or momentum or else), while the latter only leaves little options.
A particle is the latter, a very narrow wave. In theory, an ideal particle is an infinitely narrow wave of infinite height completely restricted to the center, but such a thing simply does not exist in nature.
In the end, the threshold for particle is always arbitrary and there is no natural cut-off for the required narrow-ness. This is often presented wrongly as if things change between a wave-like and a particle state, while in reality, all is a wave, some of them are just more narrow, or “particle-like”.
Latest Answers