What is the Minimum Uncertainty in Fuzzy's Speed and Position?

forty
Messages
132
Reaction score
0
Suppose Fuzzy, a quantum-mechanical duck, lives in a world in which h = 2pi J.s Fuzzy has a mass of 2.0kg and is initially known to be within a range of 1.0m wide.

(a) What is the minimum uncertainty in his speed.

delta(x)delta(p) = hbar/2

hbar/2 = 1/2
delta(x) = 1
p = mv = 2v

so uncertainty in v is 1/4 ?

Is this in anyway right :S ?

(b) Assuming this uncertainty in speed to prevail for 5.0s, determine the uncertainty in his position after this time.

I'm guessing 2.2m (but really no idea what so ever)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
\Delta x \Delta p >= \frac{\hbar}{2} = \pi...(1)

since {\hbar} = 2 \pi...

(a) use (1)

(b) I would guess you just use x = vt
 
To solve this, I first used the units to work out that a= m* a/m, i.e. t=z/λ. This would allow you to determine the time duration within an interval section by section and then add this to the previous ones to obtain the age of the respective layer. However, this would require a constant thickness per year for each interval. However, since this is most likely not the case, my next consideration was that the age must be the integral of a 1/λ(z) function, which I cannot model.
Back
Top