Past exam of the chemistry course of the year 3 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2022 / Paper 2B / Section A / 26 / b / Solution

Twice differentiating gives $d^2\sin (kx)/d{x}^2=-k^2\sin (kx)$, so inside the infinite square wellThe boundary condition at zero is automatic. The other requires $\sin (kL)=0$, hence $kL=n\pi$. A nonzero eigenfunction can therefore be labelled byIf desired, its normalized form is $\sqrt{2/L}\sin (n\pi x/L)$. The positive lowest energy follows from confinement and the required spatial variation of a nonzero wavefunction.