Homework 3

Atoms, Molecules, Spectroscopy

Simon Fraser University

Fall 2019

CHEM 260 — September 25, 2019

Due: Wednesday, October 2, at 11:30 AM

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Problem 1

For a particle of mass m in an infinitely deep, one dimensional potential

well, find the energy of the n-th excited state. Assume that the length of
the well is L.

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Problem 2

For a particle of mass m in an infinitely deep, one dimensional potential

well, find the normalized wave function for the n-th excited state. Assume
that the length of the well is L.

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Problem 3

For a particle of mass m in an infinitely deep, one dimensional potential

well, show that the wave functions found in Problem 2 are orthonormal,
meaning, normalized and orthogonal, which implies that
Z L 
∗ 1 for m = n
ψm (x, t)ψn (x, t)dx = .
0 0 for m 6= n

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Problem 4

Show that the wave function found in Problem 2 is an eigenfunction of the

energy operator.

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Problem 5

Show that the wave function found in Problem 2 is an eigenfunction of the

kinetic energy operator in one dimension.

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Problem 6

Find the expectation value and the variance for the kinetic energy operator
for states described by the wave function found in Problem 2.

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Problem 7

For an infinitely deep one dimensional potential well compute the

expectation values and variances for the position and momentum operator
in the n = 2 state. Show that the product of standard deviations derived
from these variances is bigger than 21 ~.

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