At school, you learned about the atom as if electrons were particles. But what if you were taught wrong? What if matter was actually a wave? This is the question raised by Lois de Broglie and it is the subject of this essay. We will first discuss the difference between particles and waves. We will then discuss the origin of this debate, the duality of light and the double slit experience. Next, we will look at the man behind this unorthodox idea, what his scientific background is, and his reasons for suggesting this unorthodox idea. Finally, we'll look at the data behind this experiment and see whether or not it holds up. What are the main differences between a wave and a particle? A particle has locality, meaning it can only be in one place at a time, whereas a wave goes on and is found in all of its points at once. Particles have a momentum which corresponds to their mass multiplied by their speed. Instead, waves have periods, frequencies, amplitudes, and wavelengths. To better understand where the argument for the duality of matter comes from, we need to return to the argument for the duality of light. Christiaan Huygens, who lived from 1629 to 1695, initially defined light as a wave based on how light is diffracted and reflected, while Sir Isaac Newton, who lived from 1642 to 1727, believed that light was a flow of particles due to the nature of shadows. . Because of his fame, Sir Isaac's theory was the accepted view of light. Everything changed with Thomas Young's famous double lunge experiment. He proved that light behaved like a wave by projecting a light source through two slits. When one slit was used the light passed through and was brightest at the aperture, but when both slits were used the light was diffracted and due to the super positioning of the light in the middle of the paper. ..... ne/debroglie_algebra.htmlEkspong, G. (nd). The dual nature of light as reflected in the Nobel archives. To the Nobel Prize. Retrieved from http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/articles/ekspong/Light in particle form. (nd). Retrieved from http://www1.union.edu/newmanj/lasers/Light%20as%20a%20Particle/light_as_a_particle.htmMissler, C. (Chair). (nd). Genesis_02 [Mp3]. PObox D Coeur d'ALEne, ID: Koinonia House. Retrieved from http://khouse.orgPrince Louis-Victor de Broglie. (1929). Nobel Prize [Biography]. Retrieved from http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1929/broglie-bio.htmlThe wave nature of matter. (nd). Retrieved from http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/quantumzone/debroglie.htmlWave-particle duality of matter. (2010). The Grandinetti laboratory. Retrieved from http://www.grandinetti.org/Teaching/Chem121/Lectures/QMMatter/