Define wave particle duality?

Wave-particle duality is the concept in quantum mechanics that particles, such as electrons and photons, can exhibit both wave-like and particle-like properties. This means that these particles can behave as both waves and particles depending on the circumstances of the experiment. This duality is a fundamental aspect of quantum mechanics and is essential for understanding the behavior of particles at the subatomic level.

Wave-particle duality is the fundamental principle that all matter has both wave-like and particle-like properties. It is one of the most important and counterintuitive concepts in quantum mechanics, and has been experimentally confirmed in a wide variety of experiments.

The wave-like properties of matter are most evident in interference and diffraction experiments, in which matter waves interfere with each other to produce characteristic patterns. The particle-like properties of matter are most evident in experiments in which matter interacts with localized objects, such as electrons interacting with atoms or photons interacting with electrons.

The wave-particle duality of matter is a consequence of the uncertainty principle, which states that it is impossible to know both the position and momentum of a particle with perfect accuracy. This means that particles cannot be represented by a single point in space, but must instead be represented by a wave function that describes the probability of finding the particle at a given position.

The wave-particle duality of matter has had a profound impact on our understanding of the physical world. It has led to the development of quantum mechanics, and has helped to explain a wide variety of phenomena, from the behavior of electrons in atoms to the behavior of light in optical fibers.