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Conceptual questions

When an electron and a proton of the same kinetic energy encounter a potential barrier of the same height and width, which one of them will tunnel through the barrier more easily? Why?

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What decreases the tunneling probability most: doubling the barrier width or halving the kinetic energy of the incident particle?

doubling the barrier width

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Explain the difference between a box-potential and a potential of a quantum dot.

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Can a quantum particle ‘escape’ from an infinite potential well like that in a box? Why? Why not?

No, the restoring force on the particle at the walls of an infinite square well is infinity.

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A tunnel diode and a resonant-tunneling diode both utilize the same physics principle of quantum tunneling. In what important way are they different?

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Problems

Show that the wave function in (a) [link] satisfies [link] , and (b) [link] satisfies [link] .

A complex function of the form, A e i ϕ , satisfies Schrӧdinger’s time-independent equation. The operators for kinetic and total energy are linear, so any linear combination of such wave functions is also a valid solution to Schrӧdinger’s equation. Therefore, we conclude that [link] satisfies [link] , and [link] satisfies [link] .

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A 6.0-eV electron impacts on a barrier with height 11.0 eV. Find the probability of the electron to tunnel through the barrier if the barrier width is (a) 0.80 nm and (b) 0.40 nm.

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A 5.0-eV electron impacts on a barrier of with 0.60 nm. Find the probability of the electron to tunnel through the barrier if the barrier height is (a) 7.0 eV; (b) 9.0 eV; and (c) 13.0 eV.

a. 4.21%; b. 0.84%; c. 0.06%

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A 12.0-eV electron encounters a barrier of height 15.0 eV. If the probability of the electron tunneling through the barrier is 2.5 %, find its width.

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A quantum particle with initial kinetic energy 32.0 eV encounters a square barrier with height 41.0 eV and width 0.25 nm. Find probability that the particle tunnels through this barrier if the particle is (a) an electron and, (b) a proton.

a. 0.13%; b. close to 0%

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A simple model of a radioactive nuclear decay assumes that α -particles are trapped inside a well of nuclear potential that walls are the barriers of a finite width 2.0 fm and height 30.0 MeV. Find the tunneling probability across the potential barrier of the wall for α -particles having kinetic energy (a) 29.0 MeV and (b) 20.0 MeV. The mass of the α -particle is m = 6.64 × 10 −27 kg .

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A muon, a quantum particle with a mass approximately 200 times that of an electron, is incident on a potential barrier of height 10.0 eV. The kinetic energy of the impacting muon is 5.5 eV and only about 0.10% of the squared amplitude of its incoming wave function filters through the barrier. What is the barrier’s width?

0.38 nm

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A grain of sand with mass 1.0 mg and kinetic energy 1.0 J is incident on a potential energy barrier with height 1.000001 J and width 2500 nm. How many grains of sand have to fall on this barrier before, on the average, one passes through?

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Additional problems

Show that if the uncertainty in the position of a particle is on the order of its de Broglie’s wavelength, then the uncertainty in its momentum is on the order of the value of its momentum.

proof

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Source:  OpenStax, University physics volume 3. OpenStax CNX. Nov 04, 2016 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col12067/1.4
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