Video Transcript
Who proposed a hypothesis that all matter, including electrons, can have wavelike
properties?
Throughout history, scientists have tried to uncover the secrets of the atom by
creating models to help understand and explain them. Let’s look at some of the later advances and models in modern atomic theory, which
lead us to the hypothesis of wavelike properties.
At the start of the 20th century, Niels Bohr proposed the Bohr model of the atom. In this model, electrons orbit the nucleus at fixed energy levels, like planets
around the Sun. This model was great for modeling hydrogen, as shown. However, once atoms got more complex, it did not accurately explain other elements’
atomic spectra. The Bohr model of the atom treated electrons like particles and not waves. This flaw in Bohr’s thought process violated Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle,
which is an important tenet in quantum mechanics.
The principle states the more accurately you determine a particle’s position in
space, the more uncertain your measurement of its momentum becomes, and vice
versa. Since the electrons in Bohr’s model behave predictably, they do not follow this
principle. Heisenberg in his work helped us to reimagine how electrons behave, along with other
new insights. For example, a scientist discovered that physical objects can exhibit wavelike
properties and particle-like properties. This is called wave–particle duality. Louis de Broglie discovered this concept. And thanks to him, we think of a particle, such as an electron, as having both
wavelike and matter-like properties.
So, to correctly answer our question, we can state that the person who hypothesized
that all matter can have wavelike properties is de Broglie.
