📖 generic · CBSE Class 12th English Medium · PHYSICS PART-2 · Page 95question

P HOTOCELL · Part 3

Chapter 3: Chapter 11 · PHYSICS PART-2

Physics for his discovery of the wave nature of electrons. The matter–wave picture elegantly incorporated the Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle . According to the principle, it is not possible to measure both the position and momentum of an electron (or any other particle) at the same time exactly. There is always some uncertainty (  x ) in the specification of position and some uncertainty (  p ) in the specification of momentum.

The product of  x and  p is of the order of  * (with  = h /  ), i.e.,  x  p   ( . ) Equation ( . ) allows the possibility that  x is zero; but then  p must be infinite in order that the product is non-zero. Similarly, if  p is zero,  x must be infinite.

Ordinarily, both  x and  p are non-zero such that their product is of the order of  . Now, if an electron has a definite momentum p , (i.e.  p = ), by the de Broglie relation, it has a definite wavelength # . A wave of definite (single)

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