How to Draw Incident and Reflected Waves for Barrier Potential?

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the representation of incident and reflected waves in a diagram related to barrier potential in wave mechanics. Participants are exploring how to visually depict these waves in different regions of the diagram.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster attempts to understand how to represent incident and reflected waves, expressing uncertainty about their appearance in the diagram. Some participants question the specifics of where to draw the reflected waves and how they relate to the incident waves in terms of energy.

Discussion Status

The discussion is active, with participants providing insights on the nature of reflections at potential changes. There is a focus on clarifying how to depict these reflections visually, though no consensus has been reached on the exact representation.

Contextual Notes

The original poster notes an understanding of the wavelength changes in the middle region but is uncertain about the placement of reflected waves. There is an emphasis on the energy equivalence of the incident and reflected waves.

PhysicalProof
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Having trouble drawing the wave representations for this diagram.

[PLAIN]http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/94/diag.png

I'm not sure what the incident and reflected waves should look like.

The question is asking to draw the waves in each region. I understand how to calculate the waves just not how to represent them.

Any help appreciated thanks.

EDIT: I also understand that the wavelength must be smaller in the middle. What I'm unsure of is where exactly to draw the reflected waves.
 
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Reflections occur when there's a change in the potential, so there are two places a reflection can occur.
 
vela said:
Reflections occur when there's a change in the potential, so there are two places a reflection can occur.

Yes but how do I depict these reflections? Are they above or below the waves at E ?
 
They're at E. They have the same total energy as the incident wave.
 

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