## At What Point does wavelength become undetectable?

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

JakeSaum_1A
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### At What Point does wavelength become undetectable?

What is the smallest exponent that would be a detectable wavelength? Thanks!

Samantha Pedersen 2K
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### Re: At What Point does wavelength become undetectable?

Dr. Lavelle mentioned in lecture today that we will consider anything shorter than 10^-15 meters undetectable. I hope this helps!

sophie esherick 3H
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### Re: At What Point does wavelength become undetectable?

Any wavelength shorter than 10^-15 m will be undetectable by our instruments. Hope this helps!

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### Re: At What Point does wavelength become undetectable?

In addition to the given information about the smallest wavelength that would still be measurable is 10^-15 m, Dr. Lavelle said that you wouldn't have to worry about it being too close or potentially being ambiguous, the wavelength you calculate will definitely be clear in order to make sure you understand the concept of how moving objects that have extremely small mass have measurable wavelengths, like electrons, while moving objects with much larger masses do not. This can easily be seen in the DeBroglie Equation too, as mass is in the denominator of E=h/mv, and if m is smaller, then E will be large, but if m is larger, then E would be smaller. Hope this helps with explaining the concept behind finding the smallest wavelength able to be measured!

Cooper_Geralds_3B
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### Re: At What Point does wavelength become undetectable?

Hi, Dr. Lavelle said that anything shorter than 10^-15 m is not detectable. I also researched further and found that the longest detectable wavelengths is generally from 10^6 to 10^11 m, but also make sure to pay attention to your units!

MMorcus2E
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### Re: At What Point does wavelength become undetectable?

I agree with what was said so far about the value. Mathematically, if the mass and/or velocity (momentum), which makes up the denominator of the De Broglie equation, is very large, then the calculated wavelength will be very small to the point where it could be undetectable.

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### Re: At What Point does wavelength become undetectable?

Anything with a wavelength of less than 10^-15 does not have detectable wavelike properties.

Yijia_Yang_3A
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### Re: At What Point does wavelength become undetectable?

10^-15 m! anything smaller than that has detectable wavelike property, bigger than that does not.

Kaley Qin 1F
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### Re: At What Point does wavelength become undetectable?

Anything shorter than 10^-15 m is undetectable. I think in the lecture, Lavelle said that if you are asked a problem like this and the object you are given is significantly bigger than a molecule (like a baseball, book, or car), you can safely assume that that object follows classical mechanics and won't have a detectable wavelength.