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Fall 2004
Practice Test 1 solutions
October 6, 2004
These problems are similar but not identical to the actual test. One or two parts will
actually show up.
1. Short answer.
Explain the photoelectric effect
Shine light on metal surface, only photons of sufficiently high energy (fre-
quency) able to kick an electron out. Increasing intensity of low-energy
light doesnt help. A single electron can make a transition out of the solid
only if a single photon carries sufficient energy h.
Explain the significance of h in quantum mechanics, and give an example
of a place where it shows up.
xp >
h (1)
1
What are the units of P (x, t), the probability density in 1 dimension?
Justify your answer.
R
Must be 1/volume, since dxP (x, t) = 1.
Calculate the commutator [px , x2 ]
Calculate the expression for the Bohr levels of the hydrogen atom from the
Bohr-Ehrenfest quantization condition.
See notes.
Z
(x) = dkf (k)ei(kxt) (2)
Z Z a/2
ikx
(x) = dkf (k)e =a dkeikx
a/2
a
= = (eixk/2 eixk/2 )
ix
a kx
= 2i sin .
ix 2
(b) Find the value of a for which (x) is properly normalized.
R
Need dx||2 = 1, so
Z
sin2 kx
1 = 4a2 dx2
x2
= 4a2 k/2
2
q
so a = 1/(2k). I would have given you this integral on the formula
sheet on a real test.
(c) How is this related to the choice of a for which
Z
dk|f (k)|2 = 1? (4)
From the definition of f , the integral means a = 1/ k. Put another way,
the way the Fourier transform f is defined here, |f |2 is not normalized to
1 but to 1/2.
(d) Show that for a reasonable definition of x, the size of the packet given
by your answer in a), kx > 1.
A good estimate of the size of the packet might be the first time sin kx/2
goes to zero, which occurs at x ' x/2 = 2/k. So xk ' 4 for this
packet.
3. A particle in an infinite square well (of width a) has as its initial wave function
an equal mixture of the first two stationary states:
s
2 x
1 = cos
a a
s
2 2x
2 = sin
a a
h2 2
E1 =
2ma2
4h2 2
E2 =
2ma2
3
Now, on to business. The normalization condition is
Z
1 = dx||2
Z
= C2 dx(|1 |2 + |2 |2 + 1 2 + 2 1 )
= C 2 (1 + 1 + 0 + 0)
where the last 2 terms vanish because they are odd in x. So C 2 = 1/2.
(b) Find (x, t) and |(x, t)|2 . Express the latter in terms of sin and cos using
ei = cos + i sin . Use = 2 h/2ma2 .
Z
2
hxi = C dx(|1 |2 + |2 |2 + 21 2 cos 3t)x
2 Z a/2 x 2x 16a
= dx cos sin x = 2 cos 3t,
a a/2 a a 9
where note the 1st two terms vanished because they were even in x, but
now last one wasnt. So this is a particle which is sloshing back and forth
in the well. Again I would have given you this integral on a real test.
4
R
where in the 2nd to last step I used dx1 2 =0, etc. from the properties
of sin, cos, or recall that eigenfunctions belonging to different eigenvalues
are orthogonal. In the last step I used the normalization of 1 , 2 .