- #1
doomhalo
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Hi there,
I've just been having a little trouble with this short question from a past exam paper...
"An atomic state has a dominant decay mode which produces an emission line of wavelength [itex] 6 \times 10^{-7} m [/itex] and natural width [itex] 10^{-13} m [/itex]. Estimate it's natural lifetime.
[tex] \Delta E \Delta T \geq \frac{\hbar}{2} [/tex]
[tex] E = \frac{hc}{\lambda} [/tex]
[tex] \tau \approx \frac{\hbar}{2E} [/tex]
[tex] \tau \approx \frac{\lambda}{4\pi c} \approx 1.59 \times 10^{-16} [/tex]
I was just wondering if this seemed right? I'm concerned that I've not used the natural width provided in the question but I'm not sure whether it's a case of I've a) Missed a relevant equation, or b) I've used the equations I do have wrong.
Thank you in advance!
I've just been having a little trouble with this short question from a past exam paper...
Homework Statement
"An atomic state has a dominant decay mode which produces an emission line of wavelength [itex] 6 \times 10^{-7} m [/itex] and natural width [itex] 10^{-13} m [/itex]. Estimate it's natural lifetime.
Homework Equations
[tex] \Delta E \Delta T \geq \frac{\hbar}{2} [/tex]
[tex] E = \frac{hc}{\lambda} [/tex]
The Attempt at a Solution
[tex] \tau \approx \frac{\hbar}{2E} [/tex]
[tex] \tau \approx \frac{\lambda}{4\pi c} \approx 1.59 \times 10^{-16} [/tex]
I was just wondering if this seemed right? I'm concerned that I've not used the natural width provided in the question but I'm not sure whether it's a case of I've a) Missed a relevant equation, or b) I've used the equations I do have wrong.
Thank you in advance!