TY - JOUR

T1 - Louis de Broglie's wave-particle duality

T2 - From textbooks' blackboxes to a chain of reference presentation

AU - Lima, Nathan Willig

AU - Nascimento, Matheus Monteiro

AU - Cavalcanti, Cláudio

AU - Ostermann, Fernanda

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © Sociedade Brasileira de Física.

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - We discuss the proposition of wave-particle duality made by Louis de Broglie in the period of 1922-1924 as well as the narratives of undergraduate Physics textbooks that introduce this topic. After a brief discussion on the nature of scientific reality, we point out the main theories, assumptions and techniques adopted by de Broglie to achieve the relation between momentum and wavelength. We use these elements as analytical categories, observing which of them are still present in four popular undergraduate introductory textbooks. Our results show that none of the textbooks used de Broglie's original strategy (mathematical derivation), treating his ideas as postulates. Moreover, we show that only few elements of de Broglie's original presentation are still commented by textbooks, which treat de Broglie's ideas as purely speculative, reinforcing the "genius myth". In the sequence, we propose a didactic alternative, which we call a "chain of reference presentation". In this strategy, we highlight that all scientific knowledge is supported by previous theories and it works as the ground of future scientific improvements. With this perspective, we perform a didactic derivation of de Broglie's momentum-wavelength relation (based on the original papers and on the specialized literature) and we introduce empirical and theoretical works that may be studied from it.

AB - We discuss the proposition of wave-particle duality made by Louis de Broglie in the period of 1922-1924 as well as the narratives of undergraduate Physics textbooks that introduce this topic. After a brief discussion on the nature of scientific reality, we point out the main theories, assumptions and techniques adopted by de Broglie to achieve the relation between momentum and wavelength. We use these elements as analytical categories, observing which of them are still present in four popular undergraduate introductory textbooks. Our results show that none of the textbooks used de Broglie's original strategy (mathematical derivation), treating his ideas as postulates. Moreover, we show that only few elements of de Broglie's original presentation are still commented by textbooks, which treat de Broglie's ideas as purely speculative, reinforcing the "genius myth". In the sequence, we propose a didactic alternative, which we call a "chain of reference presentation". In this strategy, we highlight that all scientific knowledge is supported by previous theories and it works as the ground of future scientific improvements. With this perspective, we perform a didactic derivation of de Broglie's momentum-wavelength relation (based on the original papers and on the specialized literature) and we introduce empirical and theoretical works that may be studied from it.

KW - Epistemology

KW - Quantum mechanics

KW - Textbooks

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091507772&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1590/1806-9126-RBEF-2019-0134

DO - 10.1590/1806-9126-RBEF-2019-0134

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85091507772

VL - 42

JO - Revista Brasileira de Ensino de Fisica

JF - Revista Brasileira de Ensino de Fisica

SN - 0102-4744

M1 - e20190134

ER -