The Uncertainty Principle

[tymartin]

Homework Statement

Suppose you want to measure the position of an electron to within 1 angstrom. If you also want to measure its momentum, how accurately can you do this if you don't want to mess up your measurement of its position?

Homework Equations

An angstrom is 1 x 10-10

The Attempt at a Solution

Well the principle states that it's impossible to know both the position and momentum of a particle at the same time. My question is to what degree of accuracy can I measure the position of the electron?

 

[LowlyPion]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle