1. If electrons behaved only like particles, what pattern would you expect on the screen after the electron passed through the double slits?
2. We don’t notice the de Broglie wavelength for a pitched baseball. Is this because the wavelength is very large or because it is very small?
3. If an electron and a proton have the same de Broglie wavelength, which particle has the greater speed?
1. If electrons behaved only like particles, they would form two bands, as indicated in the figure labeled a. Because of their wave nature, they actually produce the pattern shown in the figure labeled b.
2. We don’t notice the wavelength of a pitched baseball because it is extremely small—on the order of 10^-20 times smaller than the atomic nucleus.
3. The same wavelength means that the two particles have the same momentum. This means that the less massive electron must travel faster than the heavier proton.
