this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
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Astronomy

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Do gravitational waves exhibit wave-particle duality? (bigthink.com)
submitted 10 months ago by btaf45@lemmy.world to c/astronomy@mander.xyz
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[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 5 points 10 months ago (11 children)

My understanding is that "gravitational waves" are mechanical waves, like water, not "quantum waves" like light.

This article seems to confuse what wave particle duality means:

just like water waves are waves that are made of particles, we fully expect that gravitational waves are made of particles, too.

When it comes to duality it's the particles that exhibit wave-like properties individually.

[–] btaf45@kbin.social 1 points 10 months ago

When it comes to duality it’s the particles that exhibit wave-like properties individually.

And waves exhibit particle behavior because waves are particles and particles are waves. Light comes in waves. But when we see light it doesn't mean we are seeing a single light photon.

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