Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-sub-atomic-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2016/1/b/a/solution
Past exam of the sub-atomic physics course of the University of Oxford 2016 1 b a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Uniform probability per volume does not give a uniform radial distribution. A shell of radius and thickness occupies volume , so the radial probability density function isIt integrates to one. The second radial moment isThe radial uncertainty scale in a uniform sphere supplies the position-uncertainty scale as instructed by the toy model. It is not literally the standard deviation of the scalar radius: and . Nor is a uniform spatial probability density sufficient to determine a unique momentum space wavefunction. This explicit distinction keeps the order-of-magnitude assumption separate from a fully specified quantum bound-state calculation. Replacing the radial density by a uniform density in would give a different second moment because it omits the spherical volume element.
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