Wednesday 27 May 2020

quantum mechanics - Heisenberg Uncertainty principle defined as $Delta x Delta p_x geq h$ versus $Delta x Delta p_x geq hbar/2$



At my university, in the during lectures and in the equation sheet for our exams, the formula for the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle is stated as $\Delta x \Delta p_x \geq h$, for example in one of my lecture notes, the following example is illustrated using this formula


enter image description here



However I know that in my textbook (University Physics by Young and Freedman) and pretty much universally the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle is stated as $\Delta x \Delta p_x \geq \frac{\hbar}{2}$. Using this formula, we can see the example above is off by a factor of $4\pi$.


Is the formula, $\Delta x \Delta p_x \geq h$, that my university uses a valid formula? If so is just a weaker version of $\Delta x \Delta p_x \geq \frac{\hbar}{2}$?




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...