zlacker

re: Wave-Particle duality : Imagine that the "particle" in its natural state is a wave of energy that pervades spacetime. Assume we are interested in forcing it to reveal itself as a localized "particle": the amplitude of the its waveform as a function of space and time will tell you the probability of it revealing itself as such in that location at that time. Note the wave form is complex, so in order to get the actual probability you have to calculate the magnitude.

The idea is that it is in this waveform until you do something to observe it. Observation requires an exchange of energy, i.e., an interaction. This is why there is always uncertainty, because in order to observe something, that which observes has now intimately interacted with the waveform in order to cause its "collapse" into what we consider to be a particle. A particle very well may just be a highly localized energy that we perceive to be "solid"

You can't, for example, try to get a measurement of the location of a photon without putting a measuring device which absorbs the energy of the photon, modifying its wave function and thus the probability of where it will decide to reveal itself at that point in spacetime.

note: I consider energy, fundamentally, to simply be the consequence of fluctuating. The fluctuation of one thing can interact with the fluctuation of another and, minding conservation, transfer "fluctuation". The direction of that transfer of energy relying may be due to the fact that entropy always increases along the arrow of time, i.e., energy likes to spread itself out just as heat goes from high concentration to low concentration.