Developed by Jamie Lombardi (jlombard@alleg.edu), Physics Department, Allegheny College, Meadville PA, 16335.
Category: Physics (Quantum Mechanics)
Box is designed to help examine the probability distribution and energy spectrum of a particle in a 3-dimensional box. The main view shows a cross-section of the box with white representing a high probability of finding the particle and black representing little or no probability of finding the particle at that point.
The displayed cross-section can be set by first choosing which two axes lie in the plane of the screen and then choosing a constant value for the third direction. For instance, you may choose to look at a y vs. x cross-section with z = 0.6. (The box sits in the first octant of the coordinate system with one corner at the origin.)
The dimensions Lx and Ly of the box are adjustable between 0.1 and 1. However, Lz is defined to be 1 arbitrary distance unit. The quantum numbers nx, ny and nz are also adjustable. The choice of these parameters sets the energy of the state. This energy is given by
where h is Planck's constant and m is the mass of the particle.
The resolution of the view can be adjusted by a slider. Higher resolution gives clearer pictures, but they take longer to generate. 10 dots per inch works well.
The "Show" button displays the energy spectrum window. The energies corresponding to each line are given at the left, and the quantum numbers are written on the line. Once the show button has been pressed, the energy spectrum can be examined for various dimensions of the box. The spectrum window will remain open until you click on the same button, which is now named "Stop."
Questions concerning the main points of this program can be displayed by choosing the "Questions..." menu item. The user can save answers in a notebook which can be opened under the "Answers" submenu.
Box is used in Quantum Physics and Quantum Chemistry at Allegheny College.
This application was developed under NeXTstep release 2.0.
