its mass accelerated with a consistent force. But electrons, as particles,
behaved in unpredictable, unusual ways. When they interacted with the
nucleus of the atom and moved toward its center, they gained and lost
energy, appeared and disappeared, and seemed to show up all over the place
without regard to the boundaries of time and space.
Did the world of the small and the world of the large operate under very
different sets of rules? Since subatomic particles like electrons were the
building blocks of everything in nature, how could they be subject to one
set of rules, and the things they made up behave according to another set of
rules?
From Matter to Energy:
Particles Pull Off the Ultimate Vanishing Act
At the level of electrons, scientists can measure energy-dependent
characteristics such as wavelength, voltage potentials, and the like, but
these particles have a mass that is so infinitesimally small and exists so
temporarily as to be almost nonexistent.
This is what makes the subatomic world unique. It possesses not just
physical qualities, but also energetic qualities. In truth, matter on a
subatomic level exists as a momentary phenomenon. It’s so elusive that it
constantly appears and disappears, appearing into three dimensions and
disappearing into nothing—into the quantum field, in no space, no time—
transforming from particle (matter) to wave (energy), and vice versa. But
where do particles go when they vanish into thin air?