Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/section-a/1/solution
Past exam of the physics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2017 Section A 1 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
Take a representative tennis-ball mass of . The speed is nonrelativistic, so the de Broglie wavelength isThis is an estimate because the mass was not specified. The wavelength is vastly smaller than any practicable aperture or obstacle separation: a diffraction angle of order is unresolvably small for laboratory-scale . Moreover, interactions with air, thermal radiation and the apparatus destroy observable coherence between macroscopically distinct paths. Quantum mechanics still applies; the small wavelength and rapid decoherence explain why ordinary experiments reveal classical trajectories rather than a measurable interference pattern.
New to topics? Read the docs here!