Most CDW's in metallic crystals form due to the wave-like nature of electrons – a manifestation of quantum mechanical wave–particle duality – causing the electronic charge density to become spatially modulated, i.e., to form periodic "bumps" in charge. This standing wave affects each electronic wave function, and is created by combining electron states, or wavefunctions, of opposite momenta. The effect is somewhat analogous to the standing wave in a guitar string, which can be viewed as the combination of two interfering, traveling waves moving in opposite directions (see interference (wave propagation)).