Chapter 5

Matter Waves. Home Work Solutions

5.1 Problem 5.10 (In the text book)
An electron has a de Broglie wavelength equal to the diameter of the hydrogen atom. What
is the kinetic energy of the electron? How does this energy compare with the ground-state
energy of the hydrogen atom?
Solution
The radius of the hydrogen atom can be taken as the radius of the rst orbit or, Bohr radius
a

= 0.5292 10
10
m. The de Broglie wave length of the given electron is:
= 2a

= 1.0584 10
10
m
Using p = h/, where p is the momentum of the electron, the kinetic energy K of the electron
is:
K =
p
2
2m
e
=
h
2
c
2
2m
e
c
2

2
=
(1.240 10
6
eV m)
2
2 5.11 10
5
(eV ) (1.0584 10
10
m)
2
= 134.3 eV
The energy of the ground state of the hydrogen atom is 13.6 eV , so the kinetic energy of the
given electron is about times the energy of the ground state of the hydrogen atom.
2 CHAPTER 5. MATTER WAVES. HOME WORK SOLUTIONS
5.2 Problem 5.14 (In the text book)
(a) Show that the formula for low-energy electron diraction (LEED), when electrons are
incident perpendicular to a crystal surface, may be written as
sin =
nhc
d

2m
e
c
2
K
where n is the order of the maximum, d is the atomic spacing, m
e
is the electron mass,
K is the electrons kinetic energy, and is the angle between the incident and diracted
beams.
(b) Calculate the atomic spacing in a crystal that has consecutive diraction maxima at
= 24.1

and = 54.9

for 100-eV electrons.

Solution
(a) For a maximum in electron diraction from crystal planes we have:
n = d sin
sin =
n
d
where is the de Broglie wave length of the electron, and = h/p, where p is the
electrons momentum. The kinetic energy of the electron K = p
2
/2m
e
, we th get:
sin =
n
d
h
p
=
n
d

2Km
e

nhc
d

2Km
e
c
2

Physics 205:Modern Physics I, Chapter 5 Fall 2004 Ahmed H. Hussein

5.2. PROBLEM 5.14 (IN THE TEXT BOOK) 3
(b) The atomic spacing is;
d =
nhc
sin

2Km
e
c
2
For = 24.1

the atomic spacing d

1
is:
d
1
=
n 1.240 10
6
(eV m)
sin(24.1)

2 0.511 10
6
(eV ) 100(eV )
= 3.00 10
10
m
= 3.00n

A
For = 54.9

the atomic spacing d

1
is:
d
2
=
(n + 1) 1.240 10
6
(eV m)
sin(54.9)

2 0.511 10
6
(eV ) 100(eV )
= 3.00(n + 1) 10
10
m
= 3.00(n + 1)

A
for the same spacing we should have:
d
1
= d
2
3.00n = 1.50(n + 1)
n = 1
which means the 24.1

corresponds to n = 1 maximum and 54.9

corresponds to n = 2
maximum.
Physics 205:Modern Physics I, Chapter 5 Fall 2004 Ahmed H. Hussein
4 CHAPTER 5. MATTER WAVES. HOME WORK SOLUTIONS
5.3 Problem 5.20 (In the text book)
We wish to measure simultaneously the wavelength and position of a photon. Assume that
the wavelength measurement gives = 6000

A with an accuracy of one part in a million,

that is, / = 10
6
. What is the minimum uncertainty in the position of the photon?
Solution
The momentum p of the photon is given by:
p =
h

we then get:
p

dp
d
=
h

2
p =
h

2
Since,
px
1
2

(px)
min
=
1
2

|x|
min
=

2p
=

2(h/
2
)
=
h
4(h/)
=

4(/)
=
6000

A
4

10
6
= 4.78 10
8

A
= 4.78 10
2
m
Physics 205:Modern Physics I, Chapter 5 Fall 2004 Ahmed H. Hussein
5.4. PROBLEM 5.30 (IN THE TEXT BOOK) 5
5.4 Problem 5.30 (In the text book)
Robert Hostadter won the 1961 Nobel prize in physics for his pioneering work in scattering
20-GeV electrons from nuclei.
(a) What is the factor for a 20-GeV electron, where = (1 v
2
/c
2
)

1
2
? What is the
momentum of the electron in kg m/s?
(b) What is the wavelength of a 20-GeV electron and how does it compare with the size of
a nucleus?
Solution
(a) Using the relativistic denition of the total energy we get:
E = m
e
c
2
=
E
m
e
c
2
=
20 10
3
(MeV )
0.511(MeV )
= 3.91 10
4
Since the energy of the electron is very high, then, m
e
c
2
pc, and using the relativistic
denition of the total energy, in terms of the momentum, we get:
E
2
= (pc)
2
+ m
2
e
c
4
p
E
c
=
20 10
3
(MeV ) 1.602 10
13
(J/MeV )
3 10
8
m/s
= 1.07 10
17
kg m/s
(b) The de Broglie wavelength of the 20 GeV electron is:
Physics 205:Modern Physics I, Chapter 5 Fall 2004 Ahmed H. Hussein
6 CHAPTER 5. MATTER WAVES. HOME WORK SOLUTIONS
=
h
p
=
6.626 10
34
(J s)
1.07
17
kg m/s
= 6.19 10
17
m
the size of the nucleus is about 10
14
m, so the wavelength of the 20 GeV electron is
about 1000 times smaller than the nucleus.
Physics 205:Modern Physics I, Chapter 5 Fall 2004 Ahmed H. Hussein
5.5. PROBLEM 5.34 (IN THE TEXT BOOK) 7
5.5 Problem 5.34 (In the text book)
Figure 5.1:
(a) Find and sketch the spectral content of the rectangular pulse of width 2- shown in
Figure (5.1).
(b) Show that a reciprocity relation t holds in this case. Take t = and dene
similarly.
(c) What range of frequencies is required to compose a pulse of width 2 = 1 s? A pulse
of width 2 = 1 ns?
Solution
(a) Using Fourier integrals:
g() =
1

V (t) e
it
dt
=
1

V (t) (cos t i sin t) dt

V (t) sin t is an odd function in t so its integral vanishes, we then get:
g() =
1

V (t) cos t dt
Physics 205:Modern Physics I, Chapter 5 Fall 2004 Ahmed H. Hussein
8 CHAPTER 5. MATTER WAVES. HOME WORK SOLUTIONS
from Figure (5.1), V (t) = V

when < t < and V (t) = 0 everywhere else. Also,

V (t) is symmetric around t = 0:
g() =
2

0
V

cos t dt
=

sin t

0
=

sin

A plot of g() is shown in Figure (5.2).

MODERN PHYSICS 77
~
y
y p =

y
p
y
. From the diagram, because the momentum triangle and space triangle
are similar,

=
0.5 cm y
x
p
p x
;


( ) ( ) ( )
( )( )
( )

= = =

=

2 3
34
27
0.5 10 m 0.001 kg 100 m s 2 10 m
0.5 cm 0.5 cm
1.05 10 J s
9.5 10 m
x x
y
p p y
x
p


Once again we see that the uncertainty relation has no observable consequences for
macroscopic systems.

5-32 (a)
( )
( )

= = =

19
14
34
1.8 1.6 10 J
4.34 10 Hz
6.63 10 J s
E
f
h


(b) = = 691 nm
c
f


(c)
( )

34
6
6.63 10 J s
2 2 10 s
E
t



=
29 10
5.276 10 J 3.30 10 eV E

5-33 From the uncertainty principle, ~ E t =
2
mc t . Therefore,


( )( ) ( )

= = = =

34
8
2 17 6 19
rest
6.63 10 J s
5.62 10
2
2 2 8.7 10 s 135 10 eV 1.6 10 J eV
m h h
m tE
c tm
.

5-34 (a) ( ) ( ) ( )
( )

1 2
2 cos sin g V t t i t dt , ( ) sin V t t is an odd function so this
integral vanishes leaving ( ) ( )
( )

= =

1 2
1 2
0 0
0
sin
2
2 2 cos g V tdt V . A sketch of
( ) g is given below.


g()

V t ,


Figure 5.2:
(b) Since the major contribution to the pulse comes from / < t < +/, we take
as / and since t = , we then get:
t =

=
(c) The frequency range required to compose a pulse of width 2 = 1 s, 2f is:
Physics 205:Modern Physics I, Chapter 5 Fall 2004 Ahmed H. Hussein
5.5. PROBLEM 5.34 (IN THE TEXT BOOK) 9
= 2f
= 2f
t =
2f =

=

t
=
1
t
=
1
0.5 10
6
= 2 10
6
Hz
and for a 1 ns pulse:
2f =
1
t
=
1
0.5 10
9
= 2 10
9
Hz
Notice that to make the pulse sorter, i.e. localized in a smaller time range you need a
much larger frequency range.
Physics 205:Modern Physics I, Chapter 5 Fall 2004 Ahmed H. Hussein