An electron is a quantum particle. It's not a classical wave, and neither transverse nor longitudinal.Martyn Arthur said:TL;DR Summary: How do we know that a wave fired from an electron gun is transverse in transit?
Hi.
What equipment /mechanism / experimental procedure is used to determine that the nature of a wave fired from an electron gun is transverse in transit?
Thanks
Martyn
But a photon is also a quantum particle, not a classical wave, and is only longitudinal.PeroK said:An electron is a quantum particle. It's not a classical wave, and neither transverse nor longitufinal
Did you mean to say "is only transverse"?Vanadium 50 said:But a photon is also a quantum particle, not a classical wave, and is only longitudinal.
Where did you read this? Can you give us a link or reference so we can see where you're "coming from" on this?Martyn Arthur said:the nature of a wave fired from an electron gun is transverse in transit
That's a good point, I was thinking only classically. Massless photons or gravitons do indeed always have longitudinal spin with transverse polarization. For massive electrons it seems polarization must refer to spin-up or spin-down with respect to some external magnetic field B. A e-beam is then "polarized" to the extent it consists of unequal numbers of electrons with up vs. down spins. If the B-field happens to be perpendicular to the beam propagation direction, might this then constitute "transverse electron polarization"?Vanadium 50 said:Either. Depends on if you are talking spin or electric field direction.
Of course you can have polarized electrons, i.e., electrons with their spin in a given direction.PeroK said:An electron is a quantum particle. It's not a classical wave, and neither transverse nor longitudinal.
A photon can only be "transverse". A photon as a massless spin-1 particle, has only two polarization-degrees of freedom. The natural choice is helicity, i.e., the projection of total angular momentum to the direction of the momentum, and the helicity can only take the values ##\pm 1##. That's a subtlety of massless particles with spin. It has always only two helicity states ##\pm s## (with ##s \in \{1/2,1,3/2,\ldots \}##).Vanadium 50 said:Either. Depends on if you are talking spin or electric field direction. Which emphasizes the OPs confusion the description of a thing is not the same as the thing.
A photon's electric field can only be "transverse". A photon's spin can only be "longitudunal."vanhees71 said:A photon can only be "transverse".
QM explained that one!BillyDoster said:As I recall, the electron has corpuscular-wave dualism! It behaves both like a wave and like a particle! There are many interesting things in the world))) So many discoveries are yet to come)))
The transverse nature of a wave from an electron gun refers to the direction of oscillation of the wave, which is perpendicular to the direction of propagation. In other words, the wave moves up and down or side to side, rather than in a straight line.
The transverse nature of a wave from an electron gun can be observed through a phenomenon called diffraction. When the electron beam passes through a narrow slit, it spreads out and creates a diffraction pattern on a screen. This pattern is evidence of the transverse nature of the wave.
Observing the transverse nature of a wave from an electron gun is important because it helps us understand the fundamental properties of electrons and their behavior. It also has practical applications in fields such as particle physics and electronics.
No, the transverse nature of a wave from an electron gun can only be observed in materials that are able to conduct electricity, such as metals. This is because the electrons in these materials are able to move freely and exhibit wave-like behavior.
The transverse nature of a wave from an electron gun differs from the longitudinal nature of a sound wave in the direction of oscillation. While the transverse wave moves perpendicular to the direction of propagation, the longitudinal wave moves parallel to the direction of propagation.