Editing Wave–particle duality (section)

{{Short description|Concept in quantum mechanics}}
{{Quantum mechanics|cTopic=Fundamental concepts}}
'''Wave–particle duality''' is the concept in [[quantum mechanics]] that fundamental entities of the universe, like [[photon]]s and [[electron]]s, exhibit [[particle]] or [[wave (physics)|wave]] properties according to the experimental circumstances.<ref name=Messiah>{{Cite book |last=Messiah |first=Albert |url=https://archive.org/details/quantummechanics0000mess/quantummechanics0000mess |title=Quantum Mechanics |date=1966 |publisher=North Holland, John Wiley & Sons |isbn=0486409244 |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|59}} It expresses the inability of the [[Classical physics|classical]] concepts such as particle or wave to fully describe the behavior of quantum objects.<ref name="FeynmanIII">{{Cite book |last1=Feynman |first1=Richard P. |title=Quantum Mechanics |url=https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/III_toc.html |last2=Leighton |first2=Robert B. |last3=Sands |first3=Matthew L. |date=2007 |publisher=Addison-Wesley |isbn=978-0-201-02118-9 |series=[[The Feynman Lectures on Physics]] |volume=3 |location=Reading/Mass. |author-link1=Richard Feynman |author-link2=Robert B. Leighton |author-link3=Matthew Sands}}</ref>{{rp|III:1-1}} During the 19th and early 20th centuries, [[light]] was found to behave as a wave then later was discovered to have a particle-like behavior, whereas electrons behaved like particles in early experiments then were later discovered to have wave-like behavior. The concept of duality arose to name these seeming contradictions.