The Double-Slit Experiment Of Quantum Theory Through Systemic Functional Linguistics [15]

Gribbin (1989: 229):

It is more than a little strange that electrons can behave like waves when they are going through the experimental apparatus, then suddenly coalesce into hard little lumps to strike flashes from the detector screen, but by combining the ideas of particle and wave we can at least begin to convince ourselves that we have some idea of what is going on. After all, a water wave is actually made up of myriads of little particles (water molecules) moving about.  If we are firing hundreds of thousands of electrons in a beam through two holes, perhaps it isn't so surprising that can be guided in some way like waves, while retaining their identity as little particles.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic theory, electrons do not behave like waves when going through the experimental apparatus and then coalesce into hard little lumps.  Because the wave model construes system potential and the particle model construes the instance of that potential, it is only the particle (instance) that goes through the apparatus to be detected on the screen.

On the other hand, the notion of waves guiding the particles is getting nearer this perspective, at least in the sense that the waves construe the potential of particle behaviour.