One way to think of waves and particles

author : S. Hawk

Hi . Ian,

I once had to solve this paradox once for a philosophy professor and here is what I proposed. I call it the parking lot theory:

A particle is like a car in a parking lot. It can choose any spot to park in, but the lot itself is like an already formatted (wave) pattern.

So the car goes in, chooses a parking spot and is done. It seems random to the far away observer, and the car may habitually choose the same spot every time it uses the parking lot or randomly try a new one.

Send a lot of cars in, they form the pattern of the parking lot. To an observer from far away, it forms a wave (pattern). Every single time! The same shaped wave (pattern)!

If the parking lot (pattern) is full, no new cars (particles) can park there. If there is only one space left in the lot, the observer can reliably predict where the car (particle) will park.

On the other side of town, a parking lot made using the same design emits the same results.

So should the observer be looking at the particle, or the wave? If the observer gets closer he might see that there is a tiny driver in each of the particles, and he might realize that the pattern was a design also made by something. So he is still confused. Is the tiny driver important, or the parking lot designer? Delightedly, I would day, that depends. Either way, it helps one to see that the right question may not be being asked. The car went to the lot to become part of the pattern. The pattern was set to attract the car. Like you said on your site, the two depend on each other.

Thanks!

S. Hawk

Fort Worth
Texas
USA

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The copyright of this article is due to the author, S Hawk.

Ian Heath
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