Particle in a well potential/energy continuity

Sheldon Cooper
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Hello again,
Am facing a difficulty, the question is that ,
Is energy and momentum conserved for a particle in an infinite square well, at the boundary i.e, at x=a, where the potential suffers an infinite discontinuity??
V=0 for -a<=x<=a
V=infinite else-where
Thanks in advance :smile:
 
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Yes it is. The particle can't penetrate an infinitely high potential barrier, so it completely reflects there. (provided this isn't classical mechanics with an inelastic collision!)
 
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Did I forget the :welcome: ?

welcome to PF ! :smile:
 
Insights auto threads is broken atm, so I'm manually creating these for new Insight articles. Towards the end of the first lecture for the Qiskit Global Summer School 2025, Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Olivia Lanes (Global Lead, Content and Education IBM) stated... Source: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/quantum-entanglement-is-a-kinematic-fact-not-a-dynamical-effect/ by @RUTA
If we release an electron around a positively charged sphere, the initial state of electron is a linear combination of Hydrogen-like states. According to quantum mechanics, evolution of time would not change this initial state because the potential is time independent. However, classically we expect the electron to collide with the sphere. So, it seems that the quantum and classics predict different behaviours!

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