PHYS 12194 - Modern Physics

(Quantum Mechanics)
Academic Year 2013/2014 – 2nd Semester

Assignments
 PHYS 12194 Modern Physics (Quantum Mechanics), (2013/2014 Semester-II)

Assignments

(1) (a) Show that the energy E (in electron volts) of a photon whose wavelength is λ
(meters) is given by E = 1.24 × 10−6 /λ.
(b) Show that the energy E (in electron volts) of a photon whose wavelength is λ
(nanometers) is given by E = 1240/λ.

(2) A microwave oven produces electromagnetic radiation at λ = 12.2 cm and produces

a power of 760 W. Calculate the number of microwave photons produced by the
microwave oven each second.

(3) A beam of red laser light (λ = 633 nm) hits a black wall and is fully absorbed. If this
exerts a total force F = 5.5 nN on the wall, how many photons per second are hitting
the wall?

(4) If a 100 W light bulb emits 3.0 percent of the input energy as visible light (average
wavelength 550 nm) uniformly in all directions, estimate how many photons per second
of visible light will strike the pupil (4.0 mm diameter) of the eye of an observer 1.0
km away.

(5) Calculate the ratio of the gravitational to electric force for the electron in a hydrogen
atom. Can the gravitational force be safely ignored?

(6) The intensity of the Sun’s light in the vicinity of the Earth is about 1000 W/m2 .
Imagine a spacecraft with a mirrored square sail of dimension 1.0 km. Estimate how
much thrust (in Newtons) this craft will experience due to collisions with the Sun’s
photons. [Hint: Assume the photons bounce off the sail with no change in magnitude
of their momentum].

(7) The human eye can respond to as little as 10−18 J of light energy. If this comes with
a wavelength at the peak of visual sensitivity, 550 nm, how many photons lead to an
observable flash?

(8) Calculate the followings.

(a) What is the de Brogue wavelength of an electron whose kinetic energy is
(i) 1 eV (ii) 10 eV (iii) 100 eV?
(b) What is the kinetic energy of an electron whose de Broglie wavelength is that of
visible red light, 600 nm?
(c) What is the de Brogue wavelength of a tennis ball of mass 0.060 kg moving at a
speed of 1.0 m/s?

(9) A proton is traveling with a speed of (4.825 ± 0.012) × 105 m/s. With what maximum
accuracy can its position be ascertained?

(10) A ball (mass 150 g ) is traveling with a speed of (42 ± 1) m/s. With what maximum
accuracy can its position be ascertained?
compare your results for (9) and (10).

– 1–
 PHYS 12194 Modern Physics (Quantum Mechanics), (2013/2014 Semester-II)

(11) (a) Explain why it is that the more massive an object is, the easier it becomes to
predict its future position.
(b) If Planck’s constant were much larger than it is, how would this affect our everyday
life?

(12) Use the uncertainty principle to show that if an electron were present in the nucleus
(r ≈ 10−15 m), its kinetic energy (use relativity) would be hundreds of MeV. What we
can conclude from this result?

(13) (a) Would it ever be possible to balance a very sharp needle precisely on its point?
Explain.
(b) When you check the pressure in a tire, doesn’t some air inevitably escape? Is it
possible to avoid this escape of air altogether? What is the relation to the uncertainty
principle?

(14) What is the uncertainty in the mass of a muon (m = 105.7 M eV /c2 ), specified in eV /c2 ,
given its average lifetime of 2.20 µs?

(15) A 10 g pencil, 20 cm long, is balanced on its point, Classically, this is a configuration

of (unstable) equilibrium, so the pencil could remain there forever if it were perfectly
placed. A quantum mechanical analysis shows that the pencil must fall,
(a) Why is this the case?
(b) Estimate how long it will take the pencil to hit the table if it is initially positioned
as well as possible? [Hint: Use the uncertainty principle in its angular form].

(16) (a) A small ball of mass 1.0 × 10−6 kg is dropped on a table from a height of 2.0 m.
After each bounce the ball rises to 80 percent of its height before the bounce because
of its inelastic collision with the table. Estimate how many bounces occur before the
uncertainty principle plays a role in the problem. How long it will take the ball to
stop?
(b) A small marble of mass 20 × 10−3 kg is dropped from the roof of a building
onto a small target 25 m below. From uncertainty consideration, what is the typical
distance by which you will miss the target, given that you aim with the highest
possible precision?

(17) A stone is dropped from the top of a building. You can ignore the effects of air
resistance. As the stone falls, does its de Broglie wavelength increase, decrease or
stay the same? Explain.

(18) By extremely careful measurement, you determine the x-coordinate of a car’s center
of mass with an uncertainty of only 1.00 µm. The car has a mass of 1200 kg.
(a) What is the minimum uncertainty in the x-component of the velocity of the car’s
center of mass as prescribed by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle?
(b) Does the uncertainty principle impose a practical limit on our ability to make
simultaneous measurements of the positions and velocities of ordinary objects like
cars, books, and people? Explain.

– 2–
 PHYS 12194 Modern Physics (Quantum Mechanics), (2013/2014 Semester-II)

(19) If a particle is in a stationary state, does that mean that the particle is not moving?
If a particle moves in empty space with constant momentum p and hence constant
energy E = p2 /2m, is it in a stationary state? Explain your answers.

(20) The speed of an electron emitted from an atom is measured to a precision of ±2cm/s.
What is the smallest uncertainty possible in the electron’s position?
(a) A proton in a carbon atom is known to lie within a sphere whose diameter is
about 6 × 10−15 m. What are the uncertainties in the momentum and kinetic energy
of the proton?
(b) Monochromatic light of wavelength 720 nm passes through a fast shutter, which
stays open for 10−9 s. What will be the wavelength spread of the beam after the light
emerges through the shutter?

(21) A beam of particles each having mass m and velocity v is incident on a circular hole
of radius b located on a screen. If another screen is placed at a distance D from the
hole, determine the minimum size of the pattern formed on the screen by the beam.

(22) An electron at its ground state in a hydrogen atom is excited to the nth excited state
and then becomes unstable, Show that the maximum unstable time t is,
~£ ¤
t= (En − En−1 )−1 + (En−1 − En−2 )−1 + ........ + (E2 − E1 )−1
2

(23) Show that for a free particle the uncertainty relation can also be written as,

λ2
(4x)(4λ) ≥
4π
Where 4x is the uncertainty in location of the wave and 4λ is the simultaneous
uncertainty in wavelength.

(24) Determine the normalization constants A for the following wave functions,

(a) ψ1 (x, t) = A Exp[−(x + iωt], for x > 0 and ψ1 (x, t) = 0, for x < 0

(b) ψ1 (x, t) = A Exp[−(2x + iωt], for x > 0 and ψ1 (x, t) = 0, for x < 0

Plot the variations of the probability density of ψ1 and ψ2 and give a physical inter-
pretation to your result.

(25) A free electron has a wave function ψ(x) = A sin(1.0 × 1010 x), where x is given in
meters. Determine the electron’s
(a) wavelength
(b) momentum,
(c) speed, and (d) kinetic energy.

– 3–
 PHYS 12194 Modern Physics (Quantum Mechanics), (2013/2014 Semester-II)

(26) The ground state wave function of the electron of a hydrogen atom is given by

ψ(r, t) = A Exp[−(λr + iωt]

If the wave function is normalized, show that the value of A is
· 3 ¸1/2
λ
A= .
π

(a) Determine the probability to find the electron in between the two spheres of radii
r and r + dr.
(b) Use that to show the most probable orbit where the electron can be found is λ−1 .
(This orbit is called the Bohr radius)
(c) Find the expectation value of r. Comment on your result comparing with (b).

(27) Let ψ be a solution of the time independent SE with energy E. Show that the
function ψ 0 = Aψ is also a solution with the same E, for any values of the constant A.
Discuss the significant of this result in Quantum Mechanics.

(28) A beam of electrons having the velocity v moving in the positive x-direction carries
a current 1 µA. This beam encounters a potential barrier and the velocity of the
electrons inside the barrier gets decreased to 0.25v. What is the current inside the
barrier?

(29) For a particle in a box with rigid walls, determine whether our results for the ground
state are consistent with the uncertainty principle by calculating the product 4p 4 x.

(30) A particle is kept in an infinite cubical box having side length of a. Solve the
Schrodinger equation of the particle. If 12 electrons are confined in the box,
(a) What is the ground state of the system?
(b) What is the minimum energy required to excite the ground state?

(31) The wave functions for a particle in a box (width L) are zero at certain points.
(a) Does this mean that the particle can’t move past one of these points? Explain.
(b) Probability function is zoo at x = 0 and x = L, the ”walls” of the box. Does this
particle never strikes the walls? Explain.

(32) (a) Find the excitation energy from the ground level to the third excited level for an
electron confined to a box that has a width of 0.125 nm.
(b) The electron makes a transition from the n = 1 to n = 4 level by absorbing a
photon. Calculate the wavelength of this photon.

(33) Let 4En be the energy difference between the adjacent energy levels En and En+1 for
a particle in a box. The ratio Rn = 4En /En compares the energy separation of the
next higher energy level,
(a) For what value of n is Rn largest, and what is this largest Rn .
(b) What does Rn approach as n becomes very large?

– 4–
 PHYS 12194 Modern Physics (Quantum Mechanics), (2013/2014 Semester-II)

(34) A particle is confined within a box with perfectly rigid walls at x = 0 and x = L.
Although the magnitude of the instantaneous force exerted on the particle by the
walls is infinite and the time over which it acts is zero, the impulse (that involves
a product of force and time) is both finite and quantized. Show that the impulse
exerted by the wall at x = 0 is (nh/L)î and that the impulse exerted by the wall at
x = L is −(nh/L)î.

(35) A particle of mass m is confined to an 1 − D potential well defined as follows,

V (x) = 0, for − a/2 < x < a/2 and V (x) = ∞, for − a/2 > x > a/2
for the ground state of the particle find < x̂ > and < pˆx >.

(36) Simplify the following commutators, [x̂, pˆx ], [x̂, pˆy ], [x̂, pˆz ], [pˆx , pˆy ], [pˆx , pˆx ].

(37) The potential energy of a simple harmonic oscillator of mass m oscillating with
angular frequency ω is
1
V (x) = mωx2 .
2
(a) Write down the time independent Schrodinger equation for the simple harmonic
oscillator.
(b) Given that the ground state eigen function as ψ(x) = (απ)1/4 Exp[−αx2 ].
mω
Where, α = 2~
. Calculate the energy eigen values in the ground state.

(38) The hydrogen atom, particle in a box, and harmonic oscillator are all bound systems
with discrete energy levels. Why are the bound-state energies En negative for the
hydrogen atom but positive for the other two systems?

(39) For a rigid body of moment of inertia I about the axis of rotation the Schrodinger
equation is given by
∂ψ ~2 ∂ 2 ψ
i~ =− .
∂t 2I ∂φ2
Where, ψ is a function of t and rotational angle φ.
What are the boundary conditions needed to solve this equation? Obtain the energy
eigen functions and eigen values. Are there degenaracies?

(40) Write down the Schrodinger equation for a hydrogen atom. The ground state wave
function of the hydrogen atom is of the form ψ(r) = N Exp[−ar], where N and a are
constants.
(a) Determine the value of a.
(b) Find the energy of the ground state.

(41) Write down the relationships existing among the quantum numbers, n, `, m.
List all the quantum numbers for electrons in the 2p and 3p subshells.

This is NOT the end, just the beginning !!!

~~~~~~~~~~~

– 5–