Izit quark the smallest particle in universe ?
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- May I know how those elementary particle behave when they are in wave form ?Jan 12, 2013
they behave and obey all properties as a wave, probabilistically.Jan 13, 2013- +Peter Teoh exactly like electromagnetic wave ? Even proton also ?Jan 14, 2013
Cliff HarveyModerator+Edmund Kwa There are two different kinds of waves that you should be careful to distinguish. Electromagnetic waves are not like quantum waves.
Electromagnetism has to do with the electromagnetic field. Every elementary particle is associated with a field, and the particle is a single quantum-mechanical unit of its vibration. So it is a quantum effect that creates the particles, however, the electromagnetic field is mostly known as a classical system, including most electromagnetic waves. Waves in a field are just like any other waves you are familiar with, just dont confuse them with quantum wavefunctions.
A quantum wavefunction is a more difficult and radical concept. It would be unreasonable for me to try to explain it here. It is a wave in the "space of possible states" of a physical system.
To try to answer your question, a quantum particle doesn't have a "wave form" and a "particle form". Roughly speaking, a particle will be more wave-like when it is physically extended, and more particle like when it is more condensed. If its position is measured, all of the wavefunction will collapse to a single point. If its momentum is measured, it will collapse a long plane-wave.Jan 14, 2013- +Cliff Harvey is this related to Heisenberg uncertainty principle ?Jan 28, 2013
Hey +Cliff Harvey and +Edmund Kwa ,
Not sure if this thread is dead, but I thought I'd contribute. First off, electromagnetic waves are absolutely quantum waves. The better question is why could we explain light so well with only classical wave theory. If photons interacted very strongly with each other (ie they bounced off of each other with some non-miniscule probability) then classical theory wouldn't have sufficed. Also since you can stick many photons in an identical state, you dont' notice the quantized nature of the photon. (Contrast this with electrons who can only have 1 per state).
The Heisenberg uncertainty principle isn't really as magical as the Internetz would have you believe. Once you believe all particles (even electrons) are mathematically described by a wave equation, then the "uncertainty principle" is a really anti-climactic mathematical consequence of Fourier theory. It has physical consequences but not is not caused by a deep physical axiom.
If you do wanna really get confused by quantum information being non-intuitive, read the Stern Gerlach experiment which has nothing to do with (classical) waves, and everything to do with quantum wierdeness. I think Townsend's QM book gives an excellent 10 pages devoted to it!
Good luck!
JoshFeb 6, 2013