Wave Length Properties

[Jaclyn Dang 3B]

How do we know if something has measurable wavelength properties? How do we know if we can detect it or not?

[Sami Siddiqui 1J]

Usually, we can tell if a wavelength is detectable if the actual number you came up with is smaller than the size of an atomic bond, which is basically in picometers. If you start going smaller than that, we really get into some gray area in that regard. As a rule of thumb, if you're working with macroscopic objects like cars or baseballs, their wavelengths will be undetectable.

[JaesalSoma1E]

If you are using the De Broglie Wave equation to determine if something has wavelike properties, the cutoff for the wavelength is around 10^-15 m. Anything smaller than that won't have wavelike properties.

[Jaclyn Dang 3B]

Thank you for the responses! I was reading ahead and had this question and didn't realize that the professor answered in lecture already!