Answer to Question #3422 in Quantum Mechanics for Dejan Sajinovic

Question

I would be very grateful to you if you could answer me if electron has an amplitude? I don't mean probabilities of finding an electron. I mean if an electron does have, beside frequency and wavelength also an amplitude.Thank you very much!

Answer 1

According to wave-particle duality all particles exhibit both wave and particle properties.
It allows to describe quantum phenomena in terms of classical concepts such as “wave” and “particle”. Quantum objects in some cases can be described as particle or wave, but it is not classical mechanics particle and not classical mechanics wave.
De Broglie waves have a specific nature, which has no analogy among the waves studied in classical physics: the square modulus of the amplitude of the de Broglie wavelength at this point is a measure of the probability that a particle is detected at this point.
So no, electron has no amplitude in classic terms.