Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-a-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/paper-1/section-a/3/solution
Past exam of the physics A course of the University of Cambridge 2014 Paper 1 Section A 3 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
Confinement to length gives a momentum scale by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Using the alpha-particle mass , its speed scale is . Counting encounters with either wall,This is an order-of-magnitude collision-rate estimate, not a classical trajectory of a stationary quantum state. Taking , a different geometric interpretation of the well size, or successive returns to the same wall changes the coefficient by factors of order unity; the robust scale is .
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