SOLUTION (TUTORIAL 2)

1. The total rela vis c energy of the protons is 𝐸 = 𝐾 + 𝑚𝑐 = 1.00 𝐺𝑒𝑉 + 0.94 𝐺𝑒𝑉 = 1.94 𝐺𝑒𝑉
is, for their momentum is
1
𝑃= 𝐸 − (𝑚𝑐 )
𝑐
1
= (1.94 𝐺𝑒𝑉) − (0.94 𝐺𝑒𝑉) = 1.70 𝐺𝑒𝑉/𝑐
𝑐
.
The corresponding de Broglie wavelength is 𝜆 = = = = 0.73 𝑓𝑚

We can represent the oxygen nuclei as circular disks for which the diffrac on formula is a bit
different from Eq. 2:
𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃 = 1.22𝑛𝜆, where 𝑎 is the diameter of the diffrac ng object. Based on this formula, the first
diffrac on minimum (𝑛 = 1) should appear at the angle
1.22𝑛𝜆 (1.22)(1)(0.73 𝑓𝑚)
𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃 = = = 0.148
𝑎 6.0𝑓𝑚
Or 𝜃 = 8.5 . Because the sine of the diffrac on angle is propor onal to the index 𝑛, the 𝑛 = 2
minimum should appear at the angle where 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 = 2 × 0.148 = 0.296 (𝜃 = 17.2 ), and the 𝑛 =
3 minimum where 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃 = 3 × 0.148 = 0.444 (𝜃 = 26.4 ).

2. With 10 wave crests in a distance of 196 cm, the wavelength is about = 19.6 𝑐𝑚. We can
take ε ∼ 0.1 as a good order-of-magnitude estimate of the typical precision that might be
obtained from Equation (4), we can find the uncertainty in wavelength:
𝜖𝜆 (0.1)(19.6𝑐𝑚)
Δ𝜆~ = = 0.2 𝑐𝑚
Δ𝑥 196𝑐𝑚

With an uncertainty of 0.2 cm, the “true” wavelength might range from 19.5 cm to 19.7cm, so
we might express this result as 19.6 ± 0.1 𝑐𝑚.

3. Based on Eq. (7), and again estimating 𝜀 to be about 0.1, we know that a measurement of
frequency in a time Δ𝑡 = 1s must have an associated uncertainty of about
𝜀 0.11
Δ𝑓 ∼ = = 0.1𝐻𝑧
Δ𝑡 1𝑠
It appears that the salesman may be exaggerating the
precision of this device.

4. The electron’s momentum is

𝑝 = 𝑚𝑣 = (9.11 × 10 𝑘𝑔)(3.6 × 10 𝑚/𝑠)
= 3.3 × 10 𝑘𝑔 · 𝑚/𝑠
 The uncertainty Δ 𝑝 is 1% of this value, or 3.3 × 10 𝑘𝑔 · 𝑚/𝑠. The uncertainty in position is
then
ℎ 1.05 × 10 𝐽. 𝑠
Δ𝑥 ∼ = 𝑚 = 3.2 𝑛𝑚.
Δ𝑝 3.3 × 10 𝑘𝑔. 𝑠

which is roughly 10 atomic diameters.

5. The baseball’s momentum is 𝑝 = 𝑚𝑣 = (0.145𝑘𝑔)(42.5𝑚/𝑠) = 6.16𝑘𝑔𝑚𝑠

The uncertainty in momentum is 6.16 × 10 𝑘𝑔. 𝑚. 𝑠 , and the corresponding uncertainty in
position is
ℏ 1.05 × 10 𝐽𝑠
Δ𝑥~ = 𝑚 = 1.7 × 10 𝑚
Δ𝑝 6.16 × 10 𝑘𝑔. 𝑠

6. If the electron were trapped in a region of width _x ≈ 10−14 m, the corresponding

uncertainty in its momentum would be
ℏ 1 ℏ𝑐 1197 𝑀𝑒𝑉. 𝑓𝑚
Δ𝑝 ∼ = = = 19.7 𝑀𝑒𝑉/𝑐
Δ𝑥 𝑐 Δ𝑥 10 𝑓𝑚
Note the use of ℏ𝑐 = 197MeV· fm in this calculation. This momentum is clearly in the relativistic
regime for electrons, so we must use the relativistic formula to find the kinetic energy for a particle of
momentum 19.7 MeV/c:
𝐾 = (𝑝 𝑐 + (𝑚𝑐 ) ) − 𝑚𝑐 = (19.7𝑀𝑒𝑉) + (0.5𝑀𝑒𝑉) − 0.5 𝑀𝑒𝑉 = 19 𝑀𝑒𝑉.

This result gives the spread of kinetic energies corresponding to a spread in momentum of
19.7MeV/c.
Electrons emitted from the nucleus in nuclear beta decay typically have kinetic energies of about 1
MeV, much smaller than the typical spread in energy required by the uncertainty principle for electrons
confined inside the nucleus. This suggests that beta-decay electrons of such low energies cannot be
confined in a region of the size of the nucleus, and that another explanation must be found for the
electrons observed in nuclear beta decay.

7. (a) if the pi meson lives for 26ns, we have only that much time in which to measure its rest mass
energy. Any energy measurement done in a time Δt is uncertain by an amount of at least by an
amount of at least:
ℏ 6.58 × 10 𝑒𝑉𝑠
Δ𝐸 = =
Δ𝑡 26 × 10 𝑠
= 2.5 × 10 𝑒𝑉
= 2.5 × 10 𝑀𝑒𝑉
Δ𝐸 2.5 × 10 𝑀𝑒𝑉
=
𝐸 140𝑀𝑒𝑉
= 1.8 × 10
b. In a similar way,
ℏ 6.58 × 10 𝑒𝑉. 𝑠
Δ𝐸 = = = 7.9 𝑒𝑉
Δ𝑡 8.3 × 10 𝑠
 7.9 × 10 𝑀𝑒𝑉
= = 5.9 × 10
135 𝑀𝑒𝑉

c. For the rho meson,

ℏ 6.58 × 10 𝑒𝑉. 𝑠
Δ𝐸 = = = 1.5 × 10 𝑒𝑉 = 150 𝑀𝑒𝑉
Δ𝑡 4.4 × 10 𝑠
In the first case, the uncertainty principle does not give a large enough effect to be measured—particle
masses cannot be measured to a precision of 10 (about 10 is the best precision that we can
obtain). In the second example, the uncertainty principle contributes at about the level of 10 , which
approaches the limit of our measuring instrument and hence observable in the laboratory. In the third
example, we see that the uncertainty principle can contribute substantially to the precision of our
knowledge of the rest energy of the rho meson; measurements of its rest energy will show a statistical
distribution centred about 765 MeV with a spread of 150 MeV, and no matter how precise an
instrument we use to measure the rest mass energy we can never reduce that spread. The lifetime of a
very short-lived particle such as the rho meson cannot be measured directly. In practice we reverse the
procedure of the calculation of this example—we measure the rest energy and from the width Δ𝐸 of
the distribution we deduce the lifetime.

8. For Δ𝑥 ≈ 1𝑚, we have

ℏ 1.05 × 10 𝐽. 𝑠
Δ𝑝 ~ = = 1 × 10 𝑘𝑔. 𝑚/𝑠
Δ𝑥 1𝑚
So
𝑚
Δ𝑝 1 × 10 𝑘𝑔. 𝑠
Δ𝜈 = = = 1 × 10 𝑚/𝑠
𝑚 0.1𝑘𝑔
Thus quantum effects might result in motion of the billiard ball with a speed distribution having a spread
of about 1 × 10 𝑚/𝑠. At this speed, the ball would move a distance of 1% of the diameter of an
atomic nucleus in a time equal to the age of the universe! Once again, we see that quantum effects are
not observable with macroscopic objects.