De Broglie wavelength of electron

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
1 reply · 18K views
lampshade
Messages
17
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement



Show that the de Broglie wavelength of an electron of kinetic energy E (eV) is

[tex]\lambda = \frac{12.3*10^{-8}}{E^{1/2}}[/tex]

Homework Equations



[tex]\lambda = \frac{h}{p}[/tex]
[tex]E = \frac{p^2}{2m}[/tex]

The Attempt at a Solution


I've played around with substituting and things like that, but I can't seem to find that 12.3 number anywhere. I feel like I must be missing something simple, but I'm not sure what.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
First convert the second equation to the right units and solve it for p, then plug it into the first equation and work out all the things you have numerical values for. Note that h is actually [itex]\hbar = h / (2\pi)[/itex].

I then get [itex]12.26 \times 10^{-9}[/itex].