De Broglie Hypothesis

Concept: The de Broglie wavelength of an electron accelerated through a potential difference is given by: where is in volts.

Step 1: Substitute the potential difference.

Step 2: Simplify the expression. Thus the de Broglie wavelength is

Concept: According to de Broglie hypothesis, every moving particle has an associated wavelength given by where = de Broglie wavelength, = Planck's constant, = momentum of the particle.

Step 1: Express momentum. Momentum of a particle is where is mass and is velocity.

Step 2: Consider a particle at rest. For a particle at rest,

Step 3: Substitute into de Broglie equation. Thus, Hence, the wavelength of a particle at rest is infinite.