Diffraction of Matter: Examining Bohr's Theory

In summary, matter, like electrons, can diffract at a single slit and create an interference pattern on a screen. However, this is often referred to as a diffraction pattern instead of an interference pattern. This does not violate Bohr's Theory, as it only applies to the hydrogen atom and was later replaced by more comprehensive theories such as wave mechanics. Though it is more difficult to observe, matter can exhibit both wave and particle properties, as shown by experiments such as the Davisson-Germer experiment.
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Mustafa Bayram
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Does matter (like electrons) diffract at the single slit and create an interference pattern on the screen? If it's not why? Isn't that violation of Bohr's Theory?
 
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  • #2
You need two slits for an interference pattern
 
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  • #3
light does interference pattern with a single slit, but matter doesn't. What happens to Bohr's wavelength? What happens to the wave-particle duality of matter?
 
  • #4
Mustafa Bayram said:
Does matter (like electrons) diffract at the single slit and create an interference pattern?
The single-slit pattern is often called a diffraction pattern instead of an interference pattern (although it might be more sensible to call them both self-interference patterns). In principle single-particle single-slit setups will produce a diffraction pattern, although in practice the effect may be difficult to observe.
 
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  • #5
Mustafa Bayram said:
light does interference pattern with a single slit, but matter doesn't.
This is simply not true.

If you set up the experiment well matter will *diffract*. And more interestingly if you do a double slit experiment with matter you can get actual interference.

It is more difficult to do with matter, but it still happens.
 
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  • #7
Mustafa Bayram said:
Does matter (like electrons) diffract at the single slit and create an interference pattern on the screen? If it's not why? Isn't that violation of Bohr's Theory?
For the sake of historical justice, Bohr did not discover wave mechanics. This were de Broglie and Schrödinger, who among others, helped to get rid of Bohr's ad-hoc theory, which only worked for the hydrogen atom ;-).
 
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