Comment by nyc111
2 days ago
"In a quantum world such as ours, the field’s waves are made from indivisible tiny waves, which for historical reasons we call “particles.” Despite their name, these objects aren’t little dots; see Fig. 8."
Does anyone know when physicists realized that the world is not made of indivisible units called "particles" but waves? Is there a specific experiment or are we talking about the results of many experiments?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave%E2%80%93particle_duality
But he is not talking about wave particle duality. He explicitly states that it is not helpful "to imagine them as both wave and particle." He calls waves with very small amplitude "particles" (for historical reasons). So, according to this picture the building blocks of the universe are waves. It makes no difference if physicists choose to call a wave "particle". Calling a wave particle does not make the wave a particle.
> He explicitly states that it is not helpful "to imagine them as both wave and particle."
Where? I can't find that quote in the article.
> He calls waves with very small amplitude "particles" (for historical reasons).
The closest thing I see is
In a quantum world such as ours, the field’s waves are made from indivisible tiny waves, which for historical reasons we call “particles.”
Note the "indivisible" part. That's not how waves work in your everyday experience. The common understanding of "wave" is based on classical physics, where waves can be scaled up or down arbitrarily. But here you have "waves" which can only get so small, but no smaller, which he then goes on to parenthetically suggest calling "wavicles".
Is coining a new word which is literally a combination of "wave" and "particle" not a way "to imagine them as both wave and particle"?
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