Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, Raj.

-333 031
I Semester, 2022-23

Course No.: CHEM F111 Course title: GENERAL CHEMISTRY

Tutorial Problem Set 1 based on Lecture Nos.: 1 – 8 in the course handout

Instructions to the students: The home-assignment problems are based on the topics covered in the
lectures and the students are expected to solve them on their own.
Useful data:

1. Calculate the de Broglie wavelength of a hydrogen molecule at 300 K (take the translational energy to
be 1.5 kT). Compare this to the average intermolecular spacing for hydrogen gas at 300 K and 1 bar.
2. When light of wavelength 200 nm falls on a silver crystal, the electrons that are emitted are found to
have a speed of 7.42x105 m s-1. Calculate the threshold frequency, and the work function (in eV) for
silver.
3. Calculate the frequency (in Hz), and the wavelength (in nm) of the photon emitted when the electron
in a hydrogen atom drops from the n = 100 to n = 99 level (these are called high Rydberg states, of
interest in astronomy)..
4. The peak of the sun’s emission occurs at about 480 nm. Estimate the surface temperature of the sun.
5. If the uncertainty in the momentum of an electron traveling at a speed of about 1.0x106 m s-1 is to be
reduced to 0.010 %, what uncertainty in its position must be tolerated?
6. Calculate the probability that a particle in a one dimensional box of length L (0 ≤ x ≤ L), in the
ground state, is found between x = 0 and x = L/4. Using this value, deduce the probability for the
region x = L/4 to x = L/2.
7. Sketch schematically ψ and ψ2 for the n=2 level of a harmonic oscillator. How many nodes are there
in the wavefunction? Which is the classically forbidden region?
8. Consider the electron in the ground state of the hydrogen atom? (a) At what value of the radius does
the probability density fall to one tenth of its maximum value? (b) What is the probability of finding
the electron in a spherical shell of thickness 0.001 nm, at a distance a0 from the nucleus?
9. What is the magnitude of the spin angular momentum of an electron? What is the magnitude of the
orbital angular momentum of an electron in a ‘p’ orbital of the hydrogen atom? What are the possible
values of the total angular momentum of an electron in a ‘p’ orbital of the hydrogen atom?
10. The Eigen functions of first three Eigen states of Hamiltonian of a 1D harmonic oscillator are
, where, , and are

1
 normalization constants. Find the values of , and . Also, evaluate the integrals: ;
; and .

11. An (un-normalized) atomic orbital of Li2+ atom is given by . Find

the number of radial and angular node(s) if any, in the orbital. Identify the sub shell and the orbital.
Sketch the qualitative plot of the radial function of the given subshell against .
12. Write the normalized wavefunctions for particle in 3D box defined by for
; and , otherwise. If , it would be the
particle inside a cube. Find the energies of first five energy levels in the units of and
mention the sets that correspond to these levels and hence, find the degree of degeneracy
of each level.
13. If the wavelength of the most intense radiation emitted by a star is 600 nm, estimate the surface
temperature of the star and also, the emittance at the surface of the star.

14. A metallic surface, when illuminated with a light of wavelength 333.3 nm emits electrons with
energies up to 0.6 eV. Find the workfunction of the metal. Estimate the maximum wavelength of the
incident radiation that can allow emission of photoelectrons of energy 2.04 eV from the same metal
surface.

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