Because an electron is a quantum object with wave-like properties, it must always be vibrating at some frequency. Furthermore, an electron in a stable atomic state does not move in the sense of waving through space. The orbital electron does move in the sense of vibrating in time.

In 1924 Louis de Broglie introduced the idea that particles, such as electrons, could be described not only as particles but also as waves.

Along with all other quantum objects, an electron is partly a wave and partly a particle. To be more accurate, an electron is neither literally a traditional wave nor a traditional particle, but is instead a quantized fluctuating probability wavefunction.

De Broglie’s proposal of a wave nature for all particles initiated a remarkably productive era in which the foundations for quantum mechanics were laid. In 1926, the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) published four papers in which the wave nature of particles was treated explicitly with wave equations.

A wave is a disturbance that propagates through a medium. There are three words in that definition that may need unpacking: disturbance, propagate, and medium. A disturbance , in the sense used in this definition, is a change from the current state of a measurable quantity at some location.

Time comes from every particle within our bodies, including our DNA that is made of these same atoms and particles. Time is the frequency of longitudinal energy waves. However, time is not constant. The evidence for time’s relation to wave frequency is based on Einstein’s relativity.

Einstein

When light moves from one medium (like air) to another medium (like water) it will change directions. This is a “wave-like” behavior and is called refraction. In this way light behaves like other waves such as sound waves. The speed of the light wave also changes when it moves from medium to medium.

If there were no objects to absorb light, it would keep traveling forever. Light is made up of particles called photons that travel like waves. Unless they interact with other particles (objects), there is nothing to stop them. If it is infinite, the light would travel forever.

DESCRIBING ELECTROMAGNETIC ENERGY The terms light, electromagnetic waves, and radiation all refer to the same physical phenomenon: electromagnetic energy. This energy can be described by frequency, wavelength, or energy.

Radio waves, gamma-rays, visible light, and all the other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum are electromagnetic radiation. Electromagnetic radiation can be described in terms of a stream of mass-less particles, called photons, each traveling in a wave-like pattern at the speed of light.

Red

gamma rays

The human eye can only see visible light, but light comes in many other “colors”—radio, infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma-ray—that are invisible to the naked eye. On one end of the spectrum there is infrared light, which, while too red for humans to see, is all around us and even emitted from our bodies.

Radio waves are obviously waves. Only when we come close do we notice that this object is actually a wave. Summary: With quantum theory, we find a beautiful unification: instead of there being two fundamental entities (particles and waves), there is only one fundamental entity: waves.