What Could Be Wrong with My Calculations in the Infinite Potential Well Problem?

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on the calculations related to an electron in an infinite potential well, specifically addressing the ground state energy and photon emission during a transition. The user expresses uncertainty about their values, particularly in part B, suspecting they may have used an incorrect equation. Calculations yield a ground state energy of 26.02 eV, a transition energy of 130.13 eV, and a photon wavelength of 9.53 nm, which the user feels is unexpectedly small. The response advises careful review of the arithmetic to ensure all terms are squared correctly. Accurate calculations are crucial for understanding quantum mechanics in potential wells.
Meekay
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three parts to this one, I can't seem to justify my values, units cancel, but the numbers don't seem right. I think I may have used a wrong equation for part B but I don't know what else to use.

Problem: An electron is confined to an infinitely deep potential well of width 0.120 nm.
a.) Calculate its ground state energy, E1
b.)If the electron makes a transition from the n=3 state to the n=2 state, how much energy is carried away by the emitted photon?
c.)What is the wavelength of this photon?equations:

a.) E_1 = \frac{pi^2 (hbar c)^2}{2M_e C^2 a^2}

b.) E_\gamma = E_3 - E_2

c.) \lambda = \frac{hc}{E_\lambda}My attempt:

a.) using hbar*c = 197 ev*nm and MeC^2 = 511000 ev i get a value of 26.02ev for E1

b.) using the same equation as above for the n=3 and n=2 states and subtracting I get 130.13ev

c.) using hc = 1240 ev*nm I get an answer of 9.53 nm which doesn't seem right to me. I feel like the photon should have a larger wavelength.
 
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Why do you think the photon should have a bigger wavelength?

Lets see - using ##h= 2\pi \hbar## ;$$E_n=\frac{n^2(h c)^2}{8mc^2a^2}=n^2E_1$$ (when you use LaTeX, put a backslash in front of the symbol name so \hbar renders as ##\hbar## etc.)

hc=1239.8 eV.nm
mc^2=511000 eV
a=0.120nm

Looks good to me:
Go through the arithmetic one step at a time, make sure you have squared the correct terms.
 
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