Physicists!The crest of a mechanical wave represents max dsplcmnt,crest of EM wave reps max field strength ...

Question

Please explain to me what the crests of a De Broglie electron wave represent.

I keep hearing that electrons have wave like properties, but I don't understand what kind of wave properties. Are they mechanical displacement waves, as would represent the plot of a moving pendulum vs. time? Do the electrons behave as lights does, that is as EMR waves and the De broglie wave functions represent various fields?

Or are these "probability of location" waves?

Please help me understand! What do the crests of a De Broglie elctron wave represent?

Answer 1

At the de Broglie level, you just get the wavelegth, not amplitude. Schrodinger worked out some more math where you deal with both the amplitude and wavelength. The common interpretation of the amplitude of this wave is that it represents the probability density of the electron being in that spot.

Answer 2

Electromagnetic radiation is a transverse waveform. Basically the wave is produced because magnetic fields take a finite time to collapse. When the periodic time of an alternating current becomes shorter than the collapse time for its associated magnetic field, the magnetic field becomes free standing and is subsequently repelled from the electricity conductor by the developing magnetic field, which will be of the same polarity. Like poles repel. Since variable electro-magnetic fields have an associated transverse "E-field", that also becomes detached and repelled. The unexplained part of this simplistic concept is the fact that, anywhere along the advancing electromagnetic wavefront, spherical emissions will be experienced (Huygen's Theorem, which has been demonstrated to be fact, through the development of Fresnel Lenses). It might be reasonably explained in gases, but not in a vacuum! Hence the "invention" of the Aether...........

Answer 3

IMO those are the probability of location waves. Crest represents the place with maximal probability of electron location.