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All About Light All About Light Main Page | Classical | Relativistic | Quantum |
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| On the previous page I listed some physical properties of photons. We also saw a connection between the fundamental EM WAVE variable, FREQUENCY, and the fundamental PHOTON variable MOMENTUM.
Planck and other physicists went even further. When they built quantum mechanics, they postulated that every particle with a momentum p has an assigned "wave," called a probability density distribution wave, with a frequency calculable from the above formula. This was a very nontrivial step. It took the greatest minds of the beginning of our century. What they were basically suggesting was that EVERY particle can show the properties of a wave INTERFERENCE. A Conclusion: not only do EM waves act as particles, but EVERY particle acts as a probability density distribution wave. On the next page, I will briefly describe of an experiment that proves this duality, namely, that particles show interference patterns. |
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| last modified 1/5/2001 email Fermilab |
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