Particle in a Box

[Brandon McClelland3L]

Can someone explain the particle in a box model to me? I don't really understand why the amplitude of the wave has to be 0 at the ends of the box and I also don't completely understand what the wavefunction represents.

[Jamie Wang 3C]

It is showing the difference between classical and quantum objects. A classical object has the same likelihood to be at any spot in the box while quantum objects are more likely to be found at certain places.

[Andrew Wang 1C]

I think the amplitude of the wave is 0 at the ends of the box because that's where the box's borders are, so there is no chance that the particle will actually be at that location (since it's already taken by the edges of the box). The wavefunction represents the probability that the particle will be in a specific location, so the higher the amplitude, the more likely the particle will be there.

[Trevor_Ramsey_3H]

Do we need to know this for the Midterm? I don't remember him going over this in lecture.

[Tikva Cohen 1K]

I only remember seeing this is one homework problem and it was one of the ones my TA went over in class and he never did the particle in a box thing or talked about it so I’m hoping we don’t really need to know it for the midterm.

[FrancescaHawkins2H]

I believe the professor mentioned the particle in a box model just very briefly, but said that we do not need to know/understand it for the midterm or this class.

[305561744]

Does this have to do with Schrodinger's equation and the guitar analogy thing? Or is there more significance to this other than it have definitive boundaries?

[isabella garcia - 1G]

Do we need to know this for the Midterm? I don't remember him going over this in lecture.

He briefly mentioned it on Friday, but I think he said something about not going over it formally, so I'm assuming it won't be relevant on the midterm.

[Ashley Presnell 1C]

While he only mentioned it briefly in the lecture, I believe the particle in a box represents the maximum diameter of an atom where the electron could still be bound to the atom. And it is used to find the probability of the particle within a location.

[Mugdha Dip 3d]

Hello!
I think the particle in a box model can freely move in a small space surrounded by barriers. To answer the question I think it is the difference between quantum and classical object.

[Lucy Farnham 1G]

I did not see the particle in a box either. Where in the textbook was this or what problems did you guys do?

[105743571]

Imagining electrons in a box helps make calculations easier as we are examining them in one dimension rather than three (orbitals). When we need the indeterminacy of position, we assume that the value to be the length of the “box”.

Due to electron’s wavelike properties, we also assume that the electron behaves like a standing wave where the nodes on the ends are where the probability of finding the electron is the lowest but highest in the center.

[Sarah3C]

I have a very limited understanding of particle in a box. Do you think this will be relevant on the midterm? Does anyone know of any problems in the book that could help me get a better understanding?

[14b_student 2E]

My TA said we just need to have a general understanding of the concept but don't need to go in detail on it and we won't be tested on it for the midterm.