Modern PhysicsQuiz Bank

Is an electron a particle or a wave?

In 1924,de Broglie proposed that particle acts as a wave and wave acts as a particle. Davisson and Germer experimentally confirmed the wave nature of electron.They showed that electrons are diffracted from metallic crystal in the same manner as x-rays and other wave.Hence electrons show wave like properties.J.J Thomson while measuring e/m of electron showed that electron is a particle.Thus electron shows particle like nature as well as wave like nature.An electron moving with velocity ‘v’ has momentum given by:

                           P=mv ——————-(1)

Since the momentum of a photon is given by the relation:

P = h/λ

λ = h/p

λ =h/mv ——-(2)

Where λ is the wavelength associated with particle wave.Hence an electron can be considered to be a particle and it can be considered to be a wave.

 

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