Physics for Scientists and Engineers: A Strategic Approach with Modern Physics (3rd Edition)

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0321740904
ISBN 13: 978-0-32174-090-8

Chapter 39 - Wave Functions and Uncertainty - Exercises and Problems - Page 1176: 25

Answer

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Work Step by Step

This is a case involving the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, which relates the uncertainty in position $\Delta x $ and the uncertainty in momentum $\Delta p_x $ where $$ \Delta x \cdot \Delta p_x \geq \frac{h}{2}\tag 1 $$ Recalling that $$ \Delta p_x = m \Delta v_x \tag 2$$ Plug into (1); $$m \Delta v_x\geq \frac{h}{2 \Delta x} $$ For the range of speeds $$ \Delta v_x \geq \frac{h}{2m_p \Delta x} $$ Plug the known; $$ \Delta v_x \geq \frac{(6.63\times 10^{-34})}{2(1.67\times 10^{-27}) (4\times 10^{-15})}= {\bf 5\times 10^7}\;\rm m/s$$ And since the average velocity is zero, the proton's velocity range is then $$ -2.5\times 10^{7}\;{\rm m/s}\leq 2.5\times 10^{-7}\leq \;{\rm m/s }$$ Hence the smallest range of proton's speed is from $0$ to $2.5\times 10^7$ m/s. --- Note: the nucleus diameter is given as 4.0 m in your textbook which is a copy mistake, the nucleus diameter is measured in femto meters as we substituted above.
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