Wave-particle Duality in Humans

Hey guys... long time, no see :) well… hope you’re all safe n sound.

So… Have you ever noticed the wave nature in humans? No? Are you interested to know about it? Let’s go then…

Numerous experiments confirmed that light exhibits both the particle nature and the wave nature. This two-sided nature of light is called the wave-particle duality. The sub-atomic particles like electrons also exhibit this wave-particle duality. If this is how the world works, then the question is do we humans also exhibit duality? Let’s find out!!

Before we dive in, I will share some most popular experiment results for background

The interference pattern in the young’s double-slit experiment confirmed that light exhibits wave nature.

Young’s double slit experiment high-level picture

(The above image is taken from https://thefactfactor.com/facts/pure_science/physics/bright-point/6793/)

If we perform the same double slit experiment using electrons as the source (Substituting Electrons gun instead of Laser in the above figure) what results do one expect??

Well, that’s easy.

The particles would pass through the two slits and they would form a pattern to the right of the slits, as shown below. But, interestingly, that is not the case.

The results are startling!!

(The above image is taken from https://www.mpoweruk.com/figs/Double-Slit.htm)

Displayed below is the actual result when electrons are substituted for source instead of light.

(The above image is taken from https://www.mpoweruk.com/figs/Double-Slit.htm)

I guess you noticed what’s happening and yes, this experiment also produces an interference pattern similar to the one using light. As I already mentioned, the double slit experiment using light confirmed that the light exhibits wave nature. But what is the reason for the formation of interference pattern while using electrons??

The answer seems obvious, even electrons have wave nature, but these waves are not Electromagnetic waves like light, but these are the probability waves!

If I created some interest and you would like to know more about probability waves, you can refer the Schrodinger wave equation and the de Broglie hypothesis.

So, scientists conducting these experiments were basically surprised by the result and the only question they had was, what caused this pattern when there is no possible chance for an electron to pass through a closed region.

To find out, they changed the experiment setup by placing detectors near each slit to know from where the electrons are passing through. Guess what!! the new experiment results are more startling than the earlier ones. Let’s see for ourselves

(The above image is taken from http://agniveer.com/)

We used detectors to observe the electrons path which should then result in an interference pattern, but there is no formation of interference pattern. Strange, right?? Yes, to describe this scientifically the probability wave collapses when you try to detect the electrons path. So, it is now exhibiting particle nature which results in no formation of interference pattern.

Too much information? :) I have explained all these only to prepare you for the main topic, wave-particle duality in humans. Here it is...

The thing to grasp from all the I have explained above is

When you use detectors, electrons are exhibiting particle nature and when you remove detectors or when not using them, they are exhibiting the wave nature. This is not only for electrons, but it is applicable for all elementary particles (E.g. : photons). Detecting is nothing but being conscious right? You really want to know what is happening in the particles path after it passes the double slit screen, so you concentrate, or you focus, or you want to be conscious while using a detector.

We humans are made up of matter and the matter is made up of elementary particles, so this is applicable for us too. We physically exist which says we are exhibiting particle nature. Then what about wave nature? Yes, we also exhibit wave nature when we are not using detectors. Confused? Let me put it this way, when I say when we are not using detectors I mean when we are not conscious. This doesn’t mean when you close your eyes, it means when your senses are not active. Do you know when we lose our consciousness?

1. When we are sleeping

When we fall asleep, we don’t know who is talking or who is walking in our room. Also, we don’t know what our mom is cooking in the kitchen and so many other things. In simple words I can say that you lost your consciousness so that is when you exhibit wave nature, and you travel somewhere (I mean in your dream) and you exhibit particle nature (again in your dream). If in binary ‘1’ is particle nature ‘0’ is wave nature, then the following happens when you are sleeping. Why particle nature in dream? Because you have all the consciousness when you are in your dream. When you are dreaming, you can laugh, cry, feel the pain and also you can feel the fragrance of roses.

1 (you are awake) -> 0 (you are in deep sleep) -> 1(you are in dream)

2. When we are meditating

In many Hindu stories, you might have studied that a king or a rakshas (evil), or a saint had meditated for 50 years or even more to meet Brahma, Vishnu or Shiva. The thing is, how were they able to do that without having any food or water and having exposed to all the seasonal changes? Because they are exhibiting wave nature by losing the consciousness. So, they don’t know any pain or hunger because they are not in particle nature.

1 (you are awake) -> 0 (you are in deep meditation)

Do you know what is the third situation when you will exhibit wave nature?

3. When you are DEAD. (not being mean :p )

Yes, when a person is dead, they don’t have any consciousness and they will take wave nature (this is what Hindu religion followers call it as soul). According to Bhagavad-Gita, when a person is dead, they will take birth again but into a different body with the same soul (you will take particle nature again).

1 (you are alive) -> 0 (you are dead) -> 1(rebirth)

Have you ever heard people saying GOD IS OMNIPRESENT? If god is in wave nature, then how is air present wherever you are just the same way as God. Also, some people say that the dead are equal to god. why? Because now both god and dead are in wave nature.

Also have you ever heard monks saying all those you see is an illusion. From the above discussion what I say is you are able to see some object only because you are detecting with your eyes, so the particles of that object know you are detecting it, so it exhibits particle nature, and you are able to see. But when you don’t see it or if you are unaware that the object is near you then you are not using your detectors so the object now will exhibit wave nature, I mean it is present physically but not in solid form but in waveform. Not able to believe? You can google regarding this topic and you will find tons of explanations.

Still there are many more ideas I can discuss on this subject, but it will make the article too long so I will end it here. This is my opinion on how we humans are all living beings exhibit wave nature. Hope you enjoyed!.