Force of an Electron on a Potential Wall?

[HarrisonG]

I've been looking at a practice test for an introductory class in quantum physics, and I've found a really weird question. It asks for an estimation of the force that an electron exerts on the walls of a box of known length during a collision.

This seems like an entirely nonsense thing to ask to me, but I'm wondering if anyone can see an angle from which this question makes sense.

Edit: Here's the exact question:
"Consider an electron in a box with width a = 1 A (angstrom). Give an estimation of the force exerted by the electron on the box walls during an impact."

 

[hutchphd]

Please quote the question verbatim.

 

[HarrisonG]

"Consider an electron in a box with width a = 1 A (angstrom). Give an estimation of the force exerted by the electron on the box walls during an impact."

 

[PeterDonis]

What quantum state would you expect the electron to be in? What are the properties of that state?

 

[PeroK]

"Consider an electron in a box with width a = 1 A (angstrom). Give an estimation of the force exerted by the electron on the box walls during an impact."

In this context, what is a box and what exactly is a wall?

 

[Nugatory]

Would it help to have an estimate of the electron's momentum?

 

[Vanadium 50]

I've been looking at a practice test for an introductory class in quantum physics, and I've found a really weird question.

You might have more luck in the HH forums, because the template requires certain steps. If nothing else, there will be a verbatim statement of the problem and an attempt at a solution so we would have a more well-defined starting point.

 

[hutchphd]

"Consider an electron in a box with width a = 1 A (angstrom). Give an estimation of the force exerted by the electron on the box walls during an impact."

The problem I have is with the phrase I colored red. What does that even mean in this context?? The question can ask about an average force on the containing wall but as stated it is fraught. The route I would suggest is to assume a hard wall (infinite potential) and box size a, solve for the expected ground state energy and associate the force with the derivative of that energy w.r.t. the size a of the box. What do you get?
I would worry a bit about the prof here......