- #1
Deepak K Kapur
- 164
- 5
An electron displays both wave and particle like properties.
Does it exhibit these at the same time or at different times?
Does it exhibit these at the same time or at different times?
vanhees71 said:An electron is neither a classical particle nor a classical field but described entirely right only by modern quantum theory, which implies that there is no such thing as "wave-particle duality" as in old quantum theory (which was obsolete with the discovery of modern quantum theory in 1925/26).
It is neither a wave nor a particle. It is a quantum object.Deepak K Kapur said:Then what is it?
vanhees71 said:An electron is neither a classical particle nor a classical field but described entirely right only by modern quantum theory, which implies that there is no such thing as "wave-particle duality" as in old quantum theory (which was obsolete with the discovery of modern quantum theory in 1925/26).
Nugatory said:It is neither a wave nor a particle. It is a quantum object.
Deepak K Kapur said:An electron displays both wave and particle like properties.
Does it exhibit these at the same time or at different times?
For electrons (and other massive particles, as opposed to photons) you don't need QFT. Ordinary "first-quantization" non-relativistic QM, the stuff you'll learn in a college-level intro to QM, is a good enough starting point.Delta² said:Oh come on Vanhees and Nugatory please tell us something more about what the modern quantum field theory says about electron!
Deepak K Kapur said:An electron displays both wave and particle like properties.
Does it exhibit these at the same time or at different times?
DrChinese said:Instantaneously, of course.
An electron and its antiparticle, the positron, are described as a Dirac fermion with the mass of ~511 keV. It carries electric and weak-isospin charge but no color. That describes completely what we know about the electron within the Standard Model of elementary particles.Delta² said:Oh come on Vanhees and Nugatory please tell us something more about what the modern quantum field theory says about electron!
The mass of an electron is approximately 9.11 x 10^-31 kilograms. It is considered to be one of the fundamental particles that make up atoms.
The charge of an electron is -1.602 x 10^-19 coulombs. This negative charge is equal in magnitude to the positive charge of a proton, making atoms electrically neutral.
The spin of an electron is a quantum property that can be either "up" or "down". It is a fundamental property of particles and cannot be directly observed, but its effects can be measured.
Electrons play a crucial role in atoms as they orbit around the nucleus, which contains protons and neutrons. They are responsible for the chemical and physical properties of elements and determine an atom's reactivity and bonding behavior.
No, according to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, the exact position and momentum of an electron cannot be known simultaneously. Therefore, it is impossible to determine the exact location of an electron within an atom.