Conversation started Aug 18, 2019 at 9:14.
John Rennie
John Rennie
Aug 18, 2019 09:14
@Aladdin despite the name quantum mechanics energies aren't always quantised.
As a general rule we only get quantised energies for bound states i.e. where the particle is bound into a confined region.
user8718165
user8718165
@JohnRennie till 6 o' clock IST?
Aladdin
Aladdin
Ah ok
John Rennie
John Rennie
@user8718165 no, I'll be leaving around 13:00 UK time, which is 17:30 IST.
@Aladdin in an atom we get quantised energy levels because the electron is bound to the nucleus.
user8718165
user8718165
@JohnRennie okay Sir :-(
Aladdin
Aladdin
Ok
John Rennie
John Rennie
Aug 18, 2019 09:18
But if a particle is free then it's energy states aren't quantised.
Aladdin
Aladdin
So during translation energy, the particles are free to move so it's not qua?ntised
John Rennie
John Rennie
It isn't anything to do with centres of gravity. The quantised or not energies come from the boundary conditions on the wavefunction.
during translation energy is an odd way to put it. The wavefunction of a free particle is an infinite plane wave $\psi = e^{i(\omega t - kx)}$.
The momentum is $\hbar k$ and the energy is $\hbar\omega$
For a free particle there are no restrictions on the values of $k$ and $\omega$ so the momenta and energy can have any values.
 
Conversation ended Aug 18, 2019 at 9:21.