Tutorial

1. Determine the kinetic energy of a photoemitted electron from the surface of Cs if

the wavelength of the incident light is 525 nm. The work function for Cs is 2.14
eV. What is the velocity of the electron?
2. The following data were collected for the photoelectric emission of an electron from
Ca:
/(nm)

253.6

313.2

365.0

404.7

E/(eV )

1.95

0.98

0.50

0.14

Determine the work function and the value of Plancks constant.

3. Show that the Planck blackbody spectrum reduces to the Rayleigh-Jeans formula
in the limit of low frequencies.
4. Show that both Planck and Rayleigh-Jeans energy densities have units of energy
per unit volume, joules per cubic meter.
5. What is the de Broglie wavelength of an electron that has been accelerated
through a potential difference of 100 V?
6. What is the minimum uncertainty in the velocity of an electron if the uncertainty
in its position is 100 pm?
7. In the experiments of Davidson and Germer, an electron beam with energy of 54.0
eV struck a close-packed nickel surface perpendicularly. A diffracted beam was
observed at an angle of 50 to the perpendicular. Calculate (a) the wavelength of
the electron, (b) the spacing between the rows of nickel atoms and (c) the metallic
radius of nickel.
8. Many lines of the Balmer series for atomic hydrogen appear in the visible range of
the spectrum. What is the limiting wavelength for this series?
9. Determine the ionization energy of atomic H.
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10. Calculate the energies of the first four Bohr orbits of an atom of H.
11. Describe the following wave functions as symmetric (even), antisymmetric (odd),
or neither (unsymmetric or asymmetric): (a) () = cos ; (b) () = sin cos ;
(c) (x) = Aex , where A is a constant; (d) (x) = xn , where n is odd; and (e)
(x) = x + x2 .
12. Identify which of the following wave functions are acceptable wave functions: (a)
(x) = x2 ; (b) (x) = Ax2 , where A is a constant; (c) () = cos ; and (d)
(x) = eax , where a is a constant.
13. Determine for the following wave functions: (a) () = sin + i cos ; (b)
2

(x) = eix ; and (c) (x) = ex , where i = (1)1/2 .

14. For the wave function () = Aeim , where m is an integer, evaluate A so that the
wave function is normalized.
15. Show that the wave functions 1 (x) = sin(nx/a) and 2 (x) = cos(nx/a), where
n and a are constant, are orthogonal. The permitted values of x are 0 x a.
16. Show that the wave functions 1 () = Aeim and 2 () = Bein , where n and m
are integers, are orthonormal.
17. What are the eigenfunction and eigenvalues of the operator d/dx?
= d/dx?
18. What is the commutator for the two operators A = x and B
19. The operators for position and linear momentum are given by
x = x

(1)

and
px =

~
i x

(2)

respectively. Determine the result of operating on the function (x) = A sin(nx/a),

where A, n, and a are constants, with each operator.
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20. Are the operators given by (1) and (2) linear or nonlinear?
21. Are the operators given by (1) and (2) Hermitian?
22. Using (2), determine the operator p2x . Does this operator follow the general rule
that if o is Hermitian, then o2 will also be Hermitian?
23. Do the operators given by (1) and (2) commute? Do these operators follow the
general rule that operators having a nonzero commutator correspond to physical
observables that cannot be determined simultaneously with no restriction in this
precision?
24. Is (x) = A sin(nx/a) where A, n, and a are constants, an eigenfunction of either
(1) or (2)? If so, what is the eigenvalue?
25. Show that a linear combination of two linear eigenfucntions having the same eigenvalue is an eigenfunction with the same eigenvalue.
26. Determine the average position (hxi) for the wave function (x) = A sin(nx/a)
where A, n, and a are constants and 0 x a.
27. Show that if is a solution to the time-independent Schrodinger wave equation,
then c is also a solution where c is a constant.
28. Given that the wave function for the hydrogen atom in the ground state (n = 1) is
of the form = N er/a0 , where r is the distance from the nucleus to the electron
and a0 is the Bohr radius, calculate the normalization factor N .
29. Consider a particle in a quantum state that is the superposition of two eigenfunctions of energy 1 and 2 , with energy eigenvalues E1 and E2 :
= c1 1 + c2 2
What is the probability of measuring E1 or E2 ? What is the average energy and
the standard deviation in energy?

30. What is the ground-state energy for an electron that is confined to a potential well
with a width of 0.2 nm?
31. Determine the average momentum for an electron that is confined to a potential
well with a width of 0.2 nm in the ground state.
32. A particle is in a linear box that is 1 nm in length. What is the probability that a
particle is between 0.45 109 m and 0.55 109 m in the ground state.
33. The vibrational transition v = 0 to v = 1 for carbon monoxide occurs at a wavenumber of 2143.3 cm1 . Calculate a value for the force constant of the CO bond.
34. Calculate the zero-point vibrational energies of 1 H35 Cl and 2 D35 Cl in unit of kJ
mol1 , assuming that the molecules undergo simple harmonic oscillation and that
the force constant of each bond is equal to 516 Nm1 .
35. Show that the probability density for the zero-point level of the harmonic oscillator
is in accord with the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.