What type of wave does the electron travel as?

  • Level: Undergrad 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Rattus_norveg
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Electron Nature Wave
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
3 replies · 3K views
Rattus_norveg
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
An electron travels as a wave. But what kind of wave?
Sound waves are longitudinal, light waves are transverse, but what kind of wave does the electron travel as?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Sound waves are longitudinal, light waves are transverse, but what kind of wave does the electron travel as?
Long waves are scalars, transverse waves are vectors. Electron is a spinor.

Schrödinger waves
More like Dirac.
 
An "electron" is just a theoretical entity that exists as the result of certain formal calculations. It doesn't really make sense to say that the results of calculations can "travel." That is, one result has no necessary connection to another. The idea of continuously persisting objects flying through space is really a "classical" notion that has no relevance to QM.