Hey there!

 

Does the wave the wave function that arises from the double slit experiment change based on the mass of the particle?  For instance, is the wave that is created by sending electrons through the slits differentiations from that of the wave that arises from larger particles?

 

Thanks,

 

Isaac

"Wave function" is term used during discussion of electron cloud around nucleus.

In the case of interference, diffraction etc. etc. there is used "the Broglie wavelength".

https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/De_Broglie_wavelength

Yes, rest-mass of particle is part of the equation.

 

The wavelength is inversely proportional to mass. So a larger particle has a shorter wavelength. It gets increasingly difficult to do the experiment with larger particles because the wavelength gets too short. The largest particle that I know has been used in the experiment is a carbon-60 molecule (buckyball). But maybe people have gone further since then...

The wavelength, more specifically, is inversely proportional to momentum, so two particles of different mass can have the same wavelength.

15 minutes ago, swansont said:

The wavelength, more specifically, is inversely proportional to momentum, so two particles of different mass can have the same wavelength.

Doh. Of course. (I was thinking to myself as I typed, "but how does this relate to photons..." and my mind was completely blank!)