The wave nature of matter

however We arrive at the same results

(equations, calculations)
if we apply wave mechanics

which instead of using the concept of

"random", accepts that the electron 
has a wave nature.

Matter is, like light,
simultaneously particle and wave.

Observing an object, say a glass,

we get the firm impression that
it has absolutely definite limits.

Somewhere the glass ends

and the air begins.

The border is absolutely clear.

If we go very close, using a high magnification,

we expect maybe to find that the surface
is not as smooth as it appears to us, that
some irregularities are present, which
previously were not detected.

In no case, however, would we expect

that the boundary that separates the
glass from the air to be unclear.

This, however, is our mistake.
That the boundary where a material body ends is perfectly sharp,
is something we have assumed but haven’t proved.

Well, now it turns out

that this assumption was wrong.

In reality the situation is different.

Πλαίσιο κειμένου: Electrons, atoms and molecules 
are not small, hard, shiny balls.
They are surrounded by a "wave cloud" 
which gives them exactly this lack of clarity 
certified by the principle of uncertainty.

The boundaries are unclear,

their kinetic condition
cannot be fully defined.

If it so, and (unfortunately or thank God?) it is so,

and  the basic building blocks of the
Cosmos are by their nature "fuzzy",
then it is clear that the result of each
collision cannot be exactly
predetermined.

Πλαίσιο κειμένου: This uncertainty lies at the basis of all phenomena associated with a collision, that is all phenomena of physics and all phenomena of chemistry,

which makes it impossible to draw a line, as we did it in Chapter 6,
back from the current state of the Cosmos to its beginning.

With each collision the degree

of uncertainty about the outcome increases

because to the uncertainty of the first particle is added

the uncertainty of those it collides with.

Πλαίσιο κειμένου: Collisions on the atomic
and molecular level
occur continuously.

The longer time passes,
so many more collisions take place,
and so much greater is the freedom of the system.

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