Calculate Wavelength of Matter
Calculator for the wavelength that a mass with a speed has.
The calculation is done using the de Broglie equation, λ=h/p with the wavelength λ, Planck's constant h and the momentum p. The momentum in turn is calculated as mass multiplied by the speed. The speed is relative to the reference system.
A wave-particle duality applies to particles of matter just as it does to photons. So matter can also be assigned a wavelength. This also applies to macroscopic objects, including us humans. These wavelengths are very small and have little practical significance, but it can be helpful for understanding to experiment and calculate with them mathematically.
Please enter the mass and the speed in the desired units. The momentum in kilograms times meters per second and the wavelength in meters are output. The calculated values are output in exponential notation because the range of values is immense.
The units of mass are: u = atomic mass unit, g = gram with the prefixes nano-, micro-, milli- and kilo- and t = metric tons. The speed can be given in meters per second, kilometers per hour and miles per hour.
Examples: a carbon atom of the isotope C12 has exactly the mass 12 u. If it moves at 10 meters per second, then it has a momentum of 2*10-25 kg*m/s and a wavelength of 3.33-9 meters. A 75 kilogram person running at 5 km/h has a theoretical wavelength of 6.36-36 meters. This is an order of magnitude below the Planck length and therefore probably cannot even be meaningfully interpreted in the quantum mechanical world. On the other hand, the value of the carbon atom does have a certain relevance.
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