Sunday, 1 July 2018

quantum mechanics - Why is $n=0$ allowed for a particle on a ring?



Is there a simple intuitive explanation for why a particle on a ring has no zero point energy? That is, if we write the energy as:


$$ E_n = \frac{n^2\hbar^2}{2mr^2} $$


then the integer $n$ is allowed to take the value zero. If we consider the apparently similar system of a particle in a 1D infinite potential well, where the energy is given by:


$$ E_n = \frac{n^2\pi^2\hbar^2}{2mL^2} $$


then the integer $n$ is not allowed to be zero. Why the difference?




No comments:

Post a Comment

Understanding Stagnation point in pitot fluid

What is stagnation point in fluid mechanics. At the open end of the pitot tube the velocity of the fluid becomes zero.But that should result...