wave-particle duality

American  

[wayv-pahr-ti-kuhl-doo-al-i-tee] / ˈweɪvˈpɑr tɪ kəl duˈæl ɪ ti /

noun

1. Physics. in quantum mechanics, the principle that fundamental physical entities such as electrons and photons behave both as waves and as particles.

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wave-particle duality Scientific  

1. The exhibition of both wavelike and particlelike properties by a single entity. For example, electrons undergo diffraction and can interfere with each other as waves, but they also act as pointlike masses and electric charges. The theory of quantum mechanics is a attempt to explain these apparently contradictory properties exhibited by matter.

2. See also complementarity

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wave-particle duality Cultural  

1. In quantum mechanics, the condition that allows every quantum to appear like a wave in some experiments and like an elementary particle in others.

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Example Sentences

You don’t need a master’s in wave-particle duality to enjoy the cosmic playground of coincidence and fate that Kröger has in mind.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 11, 2024

And this wave-particle duality can give rise to some weird and sneaky phenomena.

From Science Daily • Dec. 12, 2023

And as Prescod-Weinstein notes, physicists may even misinterpret the wave-particle duality and confuse the rotating identities of neutrinos because they are too oriented toward binaries.

From Salon • Apr. 20, 2021

These probabilistic limits on measurement are described by Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, which connects wave-particle duality to the non-absolute properties of space and time.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

One was the so- called wave-particle duality of nature at the infinitesimal scale: experiments sometimes showed light and electrons behaving like particles, and other times as waves.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik