## "Wave-like Properties" of Matter

$\lambda=\frac{h}{p}$

Shirley Liu 2I
Posts: 64
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:16 am

### "Wave-like Properties" of Matter

I know that wave-like properties can only be noticed for moving objects with extremely small masses (like electrons), but at what point/value of a wavelength is a moving object considered to have "measurable wave-like properties?" ((in today's lecture (10/12/18), we found the DeBroglie wavelength of a car that weighs 1.5 x 10^3 kg at the speed of 27.0 m/s which was 1.64 x 10^-38 m and concluded that it didn't have measurable wavelength properties--at what wavelength would we have considered that it did?))

Nicoline Breytenbach 3D
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:26 am
Been upvoted: 1 time

### Re: "Wave-like Properties" of Matter

In lecture he said that the cutoff for wavelength isn't really an exact number, though the wavelength value he suggested as the cutoff was about 10^-18 or greater. He also said that he wouldn't test us on questions that are close to the cut off value; if the wavelength is too small it will be by a large margin (as in the case of the car). Hope that helps :)

Posts: 81
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:28 am

### Re: "Wave-like Properties" of Matter

From what Dr. Lavelle told us in lecture, it is to my understanding that with such small margins, he would not make us determine what would be acceptable to apply wave length properties to. The general concept was that wave length properties are only applied to matters at the micro level as opposed to an object such as a car.

Catly Do 2E
Posts: 64
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:24 am

### Re: "Wave-like Properties" of Matter

I think Dr. Lavelle mentioned this in lecture! From what I remember, he said there is no specific wavelength where a moving object is considered to have "measurable wave-like properties." I don't think we will have to worry about this on any tests/quizzes though, it's just something to keep in mind.

Hannah Yates 1K
Posts: 59
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:27 am

### Re: "Wave-like Properties" of Matter

The reason he gave us something with an unmeasurable wavelike property is so that we could understand that no matter what the velocity of that object is, if the mass is too big, it wont act like a wave. Like he said, a baseball, no matter how fast it is traveling, will never act like a wave. Only small objects (like electrons) will act like a wave.

juleschang16
Posts: 55
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:19 am

### Re: "Wave-like Properties" of Matter

In Dr. Lavelle's lecture, he said that the smallest measurable length that has wavelike properties is 1x10^-18 m.

405021651
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2017 3:03 am

### Re: "Wave-like Properties" of Matter

I would stick to nothing less than 10^-15 because gamma rays= 10^-12 so he mentioned 10^-15 is safer than 10^-18