particle/wave?

[jajrussel]

I read a question elsewhere, asking what is a photon, a particle or wave. I haven't read any of the answers yet, because a question came to mind.

 

Why isn't a wave considered to be a property of a particle? Then an after thought. Why wouldn't a virtual particle then be considered to be a property of wave interactions?

[studiot]

I read a question elsewhere, asking what is a photon, a particle or wave. I haven't read any of the answers yet, because a question came to mind.

 

Why isn't a wave considered to be a property of a particle? Then an after thought. Why wouldn't a virtual particle then be considered to be a property of wave interactions?

 

A Wave is global.

 

That is it extends to or is defined for a very significant part of space or even all space.

 

A Particle is local.

 

That is the particle and all its properties only extend over a very small region of space, perhaps even just a point.

 

The whole dichotomy is that real world objects seem to exhibit both of the mutually exclusive characteristics in some measure.

 

Normally one of these characteristics dominates the other so we call the real world object a wave or a particle to suit.

[Strange]

I read a question elsewhere, asking what is a photon, a particle or wave. I haven't read any of the answers yet, because a question came to mind.

 

Why isn't a wave considered to be a property of a particle? Then an after thought. Why wouldn't a virtual particle then be considered to be a property of wave interactions?

 

I think that is a pretty good way of thinking about it. The "particle" nature comes about because these interactions are quantised (happen in discrete amounts).

[swansont]

 

I think that is a pretty good way of thinking about it. The "particle" nature comes about because these interactions are quantised (happen in discrete amounts).

 

And localized. Even though a wave can have a large extent, an interaction can take place in a much smaller space.

[MigL]

You may want to look up deBroglie's Pilot Wave theory, jajrussel, where a wavelike property is assigned to particles to account for their non-localization.