UTPA STEM/CBI Courses/Quantum Mechanics/Particles and Waves

Course Title: Particle and Wave

Lecture Topic: Particle - wave dualism

Instructor: Mircea Chipara

Institution: (UTPA)

Backwards Design

Understanding the Quantum Behavior of Matter

Primary Objectives- By the next class period students will be able to:
- Understand the concepts of a particle and a wave
- Identify the differences between waves and particles
- Comprehend the dualism between waves and particles

Sub Objectives- The objectives will require that students be able to:
- Recognize the differences between waves and electromagnetic waves
- Understand the need of the aether and the consequences of Michelson Morley experiment

Difficulties- Students may have difficulty:
- Understanding the difference between a particle and a wave

Real-World Contexts- There are many ways that students can use this material in the real-world, such as:
- Estimating the size of quantum effects
- Speculating about the possibility of wave-like behavior of particles.
  - Model of Knowledge

Concept Map
- PARTICLES
  - Particle...
- WAVES
- DUALISM
  - Dualism in Quantum Mechanics

Content Priorities
- Understanding matter at submicron scale
- Enduring Understanding
  - ARE ALL WAVES QUANTUM OBJECTS?
  - HOW TO DECIDE IF A PARTICLE-LIKE OR A WAVE-LIKE BEHAVIOR IS EXPECTED
  - CAN WE DESIGN A MENTAL EXPERIMENT IN WHICH BOTH PARTICLE-LIKE AND WAVE-LIKE FEATURES ARE COMPETING?
- Important to Do and Know
  - HEISENBERG PRINCIPLE OF INCERTITUDE
    - Heisenberg Principle
  - What is the length of the wave associated with a 50 Kg human walking at 5 km/h?
- Worth Being Familiar with
- What is a particle?
- What is a wave?
- What is a wave packet?

Assessment of Learning

Formative Assessment
- In Class (groups)
  - Is the Earth motion around the Sun quantized?
  - Tunneling as an example of wave - particle dualism
    - tunneling
- Homework (individual)
  - text
Summative Assessment
- text

Legacy Cycle

OBJECTIVE

By the next class period, students will be able to:

Use the Heisenberg principle for position and linear momentum
Use the Heisenberg principle for time and energy
Estimate when the dualism applies

The objectives will require that students be able to:

Understand particles, waves, and dualism
Understand the background of quantum mechanics

THE CHALLENGE

Better understanding of the fundamentals of Quantum Mechanics

GENERATE IDEAS

Light corpuscules

Bohr's atom and the wave-particle dualism

Bohr's atom

MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES

DEFINITION FROM MERRIAM-WEBSTER DICTIONARY

Main Entry: par·ti·cle
Pronunciation: \ˈpär-ti-kəl\
Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English, from Latin particula, from diminutive of part-, pars Date: 14th century a minute quantity or fragment/ a relatively small or the smallest discrete portion or amount of something

archaic : a clause or article of a composition or document
any of the basic units of matter and energy (as a molecule, atom, proton, electron, or photon)
a unit of speech expressing some general aspect of meaning or some connective or limiting relation and including the articles, most prepositions and conjunctions, and some interjections and adverbs <the particle up has a perfective meaning in phrases such as beat up and cut up>
a small Eucharistic wafer distributed to a Roman Catholic layman at Communion

DEFINITION FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

Here, we define a particle as a small discrete quantity of matter that has an interface with the surrounding environment.

RESEARCH & REVISE

PARTICLE-WAVE DUALISM

link title

TEST YOUR METTLE

Text

GO PUBLIC

Text

Pre-Lesson Quiz

What is the electron...a particle or a wave?
What is the photon... a particle or a wave?
List two experiments that are typical for the wave like behavior of matter.

Test Your Mettle Quiz

What is the wavelength associated to the SUN?(The sun mass is 1.98892 × 10^30 kilograms and speed of the sun around the galaxy is 486000 miles per hour)
If the position of the Sun can be determined with an accuracy of 1 mm, what is the accuracy in the estimation of the speed of Sun (The sun mass is 1.98892 × 10^30 kilograms)
Are you both a particle-like object and a wave-like object?