/|//\\|\ French Physicist Louis De Broglie did one of the most interesting things in quantum physics.
/|//\\|\ He combined the results of Einsteins relativity and Plancks quantum theory.
/|//\\|\ Now this is how De-Broglie interpreted his derived equation.
/1\ Every particle moving with a momentum ‘mv’ has corresponding wave-like properties and guess what….a wavelength also.
/2\ So why do bullets don’t act like a wave?
De-Broglie said because the value of ‘h’ is very very small.
(And in his equation for λ …..‘h’ is in the numerator.
And mv is in the denominator…..so for macroscopic objects like a bullet…
1) h will remain as it is (very small).
2) mv will be high for a bullet due to its huge mass.
Therefore λ = h/mv = very small resultant
However now consider something as small as like an electron.Its mass is so small……that λ = h/mv for an electron gives a huge number for λ. Now, the value of λ will make a difference.
Now,….the wave-nature of electron will be clearly ‘stand out’….De-Broglie said.)
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THE VALUE OF ‘h’ WAS VERY HIGH?
Particles would start behaving like waves.
George Gamov, a brilliant physicist and an author gave a mind-blowing analogy of ‘quantum billiards’.
DE-BROGLIE NEXT MAKES A BOLD PREDICTION.
HE SAYS…..IF ELECTRONS HAVE A WAVE NATURE…..THEY CAN BE DIFFRACTED LIKE ANY WAVE.
/|//\\|\ This was a very bold and outrageous prediction by De-Broglie.
/|//\\|\ Later the diffraction of electrons was proved by G.P Thomson by passing electrons through gold foil.
/ \ G.P Thomson…by the way s/o J.J Thomson.
J.J Thomson got a nobel prize for discovering the electron as a particle ...............................
/ \ G.P Thomson, his son….I love to mention again and again won the nobel prize 31 years later for proving that the electron is a wave.
When I was in 8th grade,...my teacher took a chalk in hand and broke it into smaller and smaller pieces...and said that there will come a time when a piece will be so small that it cannot be broken further. This piece is the atom she said.
At first it seemed ok,...but then i asked myself how can there be any particle that cannot be broken further ? After a lot of thinking, a deep voice said to me that matter or particles may just be waves moving at such rapid speeds in a small area...that they display particle- like properties.
But how,...why would waves stay at one place,...they are always busy travelling....and then when i grew up...i learnt about standing waves.
I thought maybe... matter can be standing waves. It was only much later when i came across a book on quantum physics (Quantum Theory by Archna Basu) and read Schrodingers equation that i understood that he had written a theory back in 1926 that electrons are standing waves and that is why they are so well arranged at fixed regular orbits around the nucleus.
Before reading Schrodinger....i used to think that i am just daydreaming like a small crazy child. After Reading Schrodinger...for the first time it felt that whatever i felt intuitively was not just daydreams. Nor was it ahead of time. It was already done.
More and more as i read Schrodinger (by the way till date i can't pronounce him correctly) that he felt that the electron was nothing but a bundle of waves so heavily superimposed over each other that start displaying particle-like behaviour....it sent shrills through my spine.
I learnt my lesson to never underestimate that deep silent intuition,...no matter how scary or insane it seems.
Whatever i knew i put it into a book entitled 'Quantum Leaps' and another book entitled 'Visualizing Math', the purpose being to simply equations for beginners. The books that were easy and intuitive unfortunately never dealt with equations (only theory mostly) and the books that dealt with equation were not intuitive.
The purpose of these books was to combine the best of the two worlds....so they involve analogies to explain equations.
Analogies from what i learnt are a beginners best friend.
You can ask me question on my e-mail id given below.