Wave-Particle Duality: When Light and Matter Are Both

Wave-particle duality means light and matter can behave as both waves and particles.
Thomas Young’s double-slit experiment first showed light creating wave-like interference patterns.
Later experiments revealed individual photons also act like discrete particles.
Electrons, usually thought of as particles, can also form wave patterns.
The duality is not “either-or” but “both-and,” depending on how you observe.
Quantum mechanics explains this duality through probability waves called wavefunctions.
Observation collapses a wavefunction, revealing a definite particle outcome.
This duality underpins technologies like electron microscopes and quantum computing.
Even large molecules, like buckyballs, have shown wave-like interference in labs.
Wave-particle duality challenges our everyday intuition about how reality should behave.