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Assignment 1 - Group B: Compton Effect

1) The Compton effect cannot be observed for protons due to their large mass resulting in a negligible Compton shift. 2) The Compton effect is insignificant for microwaves and visible light but significant for X-rays and very significant for gamma rays. 3) The de Broglie wavelength of macroscopic objects is too small to observe their wave nature. 4) For an electron with 0.512 MeV kinetic energy, the associated de Broglie wavelength is approximately 2 pm.

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59 views

Assignment 1 - Group B: Compton Effect

1) The Compton effect cannot be observed for protons due to their large mass resulting in a negligible Compton shift. 2) The Compton effect is insignificant for microwaves and visible light but significant for X-rays and very significant for gamma rays. 3) The de Broglie wavelength of macroscopic objects is too small to observe their wave nature. 4) For an electron with 0.512 MeV kinetic energy, the associated de Broglie wavelength is approximately 2 pm.

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adrijeet8deb
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ASSIGNMENT 1 – GROUP B

Compton Effect

1. Can you observe Compton Effect if a proton is substituted in place of electron?

Compton shift is given by . The value of the term is for


electron is m. Since mass of a proton is 1836 times the mass of an electron,
we have m. This is very small and hence Compton shift is too
small to be observed.

2. Calculate the per cent change in photon energy for a Compton collision with an angle
for radiation in (i) the microwave range, with (ii) the visible range, with
(iii) The X-ray range, with (iv) the gamma ray range, energy of gamma
ray photons being . What are your conclusions about the importance of Compton
effect in these regions of EM spectrum.

Per cent change in photon energy = , where is the energy of the


incident photons and is the energy of the scatted photons. In terms of wavelengths the
expression reads as, Per cent change in photon energy = , where
is the Compton shift. Here , therefore m and
m.

(i) the microwave range, with :

Per cent change in photon energy which is very negligible.

(ii) the visible range, with :

Per cent change in photon energy which is


very negligible.

(iii) The X-ray range, with :

Per cent change in photon energy which is


significant change in energy.

(iv) the gamma ray range, energy of gamma ray photons being :

. Therefore, m.
Per cent change in photon energy which is very
much significant change in energy.

To conclude, Compton effect is very much insignificant in the microwave and visible regions
of EM spectrum. On the other hand, Compton shift is significant in the case of X ray region
and very much significant in the the gamma ray range.

de Broglie Waves

3. Why is the wave nature of matter not more apparent to our daily observation?

The dimension and speed of the object determine the matter wave associated with that
object. In daily life we deal with object of hundreds of grams and with speed not exceeding
the a few kilometres per hour. de Broglie wavelength is and numerator is of the
order of . Therefore, the de Broglie wavelength of the objects we deal with is very
small when compared with the dimension of the objects. Hence, the wave nature of matter
is not very apparent to our daily observation.

4. Determine the wavelength associated with an electron having kinetic energy equal to
(Hint: Use relativistic equation for total energy and mass)
Since the K.E of the electron is comparable with its rest mass energy (0.512 MeV) we
should use relativistic equation. Thus = 0.512 MeV + 1 MeV = 1.512
MeV. Therefore kg. Using , is found to be
2 ms-1. Therefore wavelength associated with the electron is .

Uncertainty Principle
5. An unstable elementary particle called -meson has a rest mass energy of . It
has a mean life-time of . What is the relative uncertainty in its rest mass?

Rest mass energy: .

According to Uncertainty principle, .

6. Compare the following two cases and hence provide proper interpretation. (i) An
electron has a speed of , accurate to . With what fundamental accuracy
we can locate the position of the electron? (ii) A bullet of mass , has a speed of
, accurate to . With what fundamental accuracy we can locate the
position of the bullet?
Case (i)

Momentum of the electron kg.m/sec. The


uncertainty in momentum is given to be 0.01% of this value. Therefore,
kg.m/sec. The minimum uncertainty in position is
cm.

Case (ii)

Momentum of the bullet kg.m/sec. The uncertainty in


momentum is given to be 0.01% of this value. Therefore,
kg.m/sec. The minimum uncertainty in position is m.

In the case of the electron, uncertainty in position is about 2.4 cm and hence it can be found
anywhere within in 2.4 cm. The uncertainty in the position of a bullet is far beyond the
possibility of measurement. We can therefore assert that for heavy objects like bullets the
uncertainty principle sets no limit whatever on our measuring procedures.

Particle in a 1D box

7. Obtain the expression for the energy as well as Eigen function relating to a particle that is
confined in a one-dimensional box of finite width. Sketch the wave function and probability
density for each level, starting from to .

This is nothing but the particle in a one dimensional box problem. To draw the wave
function and probability density for each level Refer Concepts of Modern physics by Arthur
Beiser.
8. A quark (mass = ) is confined in a cubical box of length 2 fermis .
Find the excitation energy from the ground state to the 1st excited state in .

Energy spectrum of a particle confined in 3 dimensional box:

Ground state energy . Energy of First excited state: .

Therefore, the excitation energy from ground state to first excited state is

Substituting the values of mass of the quark and length of the box, we get .

Tunnelling Effect

9. Calculate the probability of transmission that a electron will penetrate a potential


barrier of when the barrier width is .

Use the expression of approximate transmission probability where


. Here is the mass of electron, is the potential barrier and is
the energy of the particle. Note that represents the width of the barrier which is
2 By carrying out the numeric, we shall find that 0.0288.

NOTE: If you have used, the expression: , then 0.232.

10. An electron and a proton with the same energy approach a potential barrier whose
height is greater than . Do they have same probability of getting through? If not, which
has the greater probability?

The approximate transmission probability is given by where


. Here is the mass of the particle, is the potential barrier and is the
energy of the particle. Since mass of a proton is 1836 times the mass of an electron, the
value of is higher for proton than that of an electron. Since
transmission probability is a negative exponential function, electron has greater probability
of getting through the barrier.

Scanning Tunnelling Microscope

11. With a neat sketch explain the principle and working of STM.

General description on the principle of quantum tunnelling with diagram and schematic
diagram to explain the working of STM and two modes of operations is expected.

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