- #1
speeding electron
- 65
- 0
Classically, a pulse of light emitted by an atom would be viewed as an electromagnetic wave radiating spherically symmetrically out from the atom. Quantum mechanically speaking, if say a hydrogen atom emits a single photon, does the photon's wavefunction spread out spherically, us having no idea on which side of the we will detect it? Also, am I correct in assuming that we know the magnitude of the photon's momentum exactly (p = hf/c), in which case the uncertainty in its momentum is all uncertainty about the direction of its momentum? Clarification about this situation would be great, because I haven't been able to been able to find anywhere which deals it fully.