Wave Particle Duality
Our specific story begins with incredible thought and genius. When Werner Heisenberg introduced his uncertainty principle (ΔxΔpx ≥ h/2), “Our knowledge about a particle is inherently uncertain. (text)” Designed from the inaccuracy of electron position in Louis de Broglie’s standing waves. A remarkable observation was produced, the more precise the position of an electron is determined the less precisely the momentum is known and the opposite holds.
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This observation was necessary in understanding how matter can be both a wave and a particle. You see, subatomic particles can disappear and reappear in another place, and they can do this without existing in the space between. As we learned in chemistry class an electron is trapped inside an atom and the places it can appear and disappear are localized locations around the nucleus, which makes this region look like a shell.
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Yet even more weird subatomic particles can be in more than one place at a time, if the time is super brief. For example, an electron can travel from one place to another threw all possible paths at the same time! If you thought that was strange here is another strange concept. These subatomic particles can appear out of the nothingness of space, come into existence for a tiny instant and then vanish. They are called by Physicists “Virtual particles (Gordon Kane)” and even if they are virtual they can have real effects.
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As the subatomic particle jumps in and out of existence its probabilistic location of existence models that of a wave. The location where there is a maximum in the wave is where the matter comes into existence (usually). Yet the location where the minimum in crescent shape occurs is where matter avoids existence (usually). The wave function models matters existence.
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