Light exhibits particle-like behavior (photoelectric effect, photon momentum p = h/λ, Compton scattering), and de Broglie extended this wave-particle duality to matter, proposing that any object with momentum has an associated wavelength λ = h/(mv) — a relationship experimentally confirmed for electrons via diffraction (Davisson–Germer, G.P. Thomson) but negligible for macroscopic objects due to their large mass. This wave-particle duality of matter motivates the Schrödinger equation, Ĥψ = Eψ, a wave equation in which the Hamiltonian operator Ĥ acts on a wave function ψ (a representation of a particle, such as an electron) to yield its binding energy E, forming the foundation of quantum mechanical treatment of atomic structure in quantum chemistry.
Light exhibits particle-like behavior (photoelectric effect, photon momentum p = h/λ, Compton scattering), and de Broglie extended this wave-particle duality to matter, proposing that any object with…