Topic: book1

Discovery of the electron as a wave

The first physicist to suggest that electrons could also exhibit wave-like behavior was the French nobleman Louis De Broglie. In 1924, De Broglie proposed the principle of wave-particle duality for all components of matter, not just electrons. This principle means that the particles that constitut...…
in history
Discovery of the electron as a wave

Is Millie a real pussycat?

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in questions
Is Millie a real pussycat?

Why do Millie meet electrons first?

Electrons were discovered before other elementary particles. Joseph John Thomson demonstrated their existence in 1897, and for this, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1906. To learn more, read the story of the discovery of the electron.
in questions
Why do Millie meet electrons first?

Do electrons spin?

Electron spin makes us picture electrons as if they "spin" like a tiny toy top spinning on a table. But here’s the thing: electrons don’t spin like that at all! In the article Electron's spin - Part 1, we discovered that scientists once thought electrons might be spinning, so they gave this spe...…
in questions
Do electrons spin?

Do electrons always have the spinny top?

In the article Electron's Spin - Part 1, we discovered that the electrons’ pointy "hats" aren’t really hats at all, but rather a built-in feature of electrons known as spin. It's like your nose — you can’t take it off because it’s part of your face. Millie discovered it in Book 1. Do you rem...…
in questions
Do electrons always have the spinny top?

What do "psi" and "collapse" mean?

Just as "Millie, micro, nano, and pico" are Millie’s magic words to shrink smaller and smaller, "Psi" and "Collapse" are the electron’s special words for switching between its wave and particle forms. If you’ve read the article Millie, micro, nano, and pico, you already know these words...…
in questions
What do "psi" and "collapse" mean?

How can electrons turn into waves and pop out of them?

In Millie's stories, electrons are sometimes particles and sometimes waves. This dual nature is called wave-particle duality. It's a typical quantum property that doesn't exist in our everyday life. Unfortunately, nobody fully understands how the transformation between particle and wave behavior...…
in questions
How can electrons turn into waves and pop out of them?

Wave or particle?

Thomas Young, a British scientist, was one of the first to explore this question. He invented the double-slit experiment to determine whether light behaves as a wave or as a collection of particles. The basic idea is to study a beam of objects whose nature is unknown and observe how they behave. T...…
in questions
Wave or particle?