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Ring Table

Attached, you will find a table showing different representations of physical quantities associated with a quantum particle confined to a ring. Fill in all of the missing entries. Hint: You may look ahead. We filled out a number of the entries throughout the table to give you hints about what the forms of the other entries might be. pdf link for the Table or doc link for the Table

  • Found in: Central Forces course(s)

group Small Group Activity

10 min.

Angular Momentum in Polar Coordinates
Students learn how to express Angular Momentum as a vector quantity in polar coordinates, and then in Cylindrical and Spherical Coordinates

assignment_ind Small White Board Question

30 min.

Magnetic Moment & Stern-Gerlach Experiments
Students consider the relation (1) between the angular momentum and magnetic moment for a current loop and (2) the force on a magnetic moment in an inhomogeneous magnetic field. Students make a (classical) prediction of the outcome of a Stern-Gerlach experiment.

assignment_ind Small White Board Question

5 min.

Angular Momentum SWBQ
  • Found in: Central Forces course(s)
  • Found in: Central Forces course(s)

group Small Group Activity

30 min.

Superposition States for a Particle on a Ring
Students calculate probabilities for a particle on a ring whose wavefunction is not easily separated into eigenstates by inspection. To find the energy, angular momentum, and position probabilities, students perform integrations with the wavefunction or decompose the wavefunction into a superposition of eigenfunctions.
A group of students, tethered together, are floating freely in outer space. Their task is to devise a method to reach a food cache some distance from their group.
  • Found in: Central Forces course(s)

group Small Group Activity

30 min.

Applying the equipartition theorem
Students count the quadratic degrees of freedom of a few toy molecules to predict their internal energy at temperature \(T\).

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Scattering

Consider a very light particle of mass \(\mu\) scattering from a very heavy, stationary particle of mass \(M\). The force between the two particles is a repulsive Coulomb force \(\frac{k}{r^2}\). The impact parameter \(b\) in a scattering problem is defined to be the distance which would be the closest approach if there were no interaction (See Figure). The initial velocity (far from the scattering event) of the mass \(\mu\) is \(\vec v_0\). Answer the following questions about this situation in terms of \(k\), \(M\), \(\mu\), \(\vec v_0\), and \(b\). (It is not necessarily wise to answer these questions in order.)

  1. What is the initial angular momentum of the system?
  2. What is the initial total energy of the system?
  3. What is the distance of closest approach \(r_{\rm{min}}\) with the interaction?
  4. Sketch the effective potential.
  5. What is the angular momentum at \(r_{\rm{min}}\)?
  6. What is the total energy of the system at \(r_{\rm{min}}\)?
  7. What is the radial component of the velocity at \(r_{\rm{min}}\)?
  8. What is the tangential component of the velocity at \(r_{\rm{min}}\)?
  9. What is the value of the effective potential at \(r_{\rm{min}}\)?
  10. For what values of the initial total energy are there bound orbits?
  11. Using your results above, write a short essay describing this type of scattering problem, at a level appropriate to share with another Paradigm student.

  • Found in: Central Forces course(s)

group Small Group Activity

30 min.

Expectation Values for a Particle on a Ring
Students calculate the expectation value of energy and angular momentum as a function of time for an initial state for a particle on a ring. This state is a linear combination of energy/angular momentum eigenstates written in bra-ket notation.
Students calculate probabilities for a particle on a ring using three different notations: Dirac bra-ket, matrix, and wave function. After calculating the angular momentum and energy measurement probabilities, students compare their calculation methods for notation.

group Small Group Activity

30 min.

Time Dependence for a Quantum Particle on a Ring Part 1
Students calculate probabilities for energy, angular momentum, and position as a function of time for an initial state that is a linear combination of energy/angular momentum eigenstates for a particle confined to a ring written in bra-ket notation. This activity helps students build an understanding of when they can expect a quantity to depend on time and to give them more practice moving between representations.

group Small Group Activity

60 min.

Raising and Lowering Operators for Spin
This handout lists Motivating Questions, Key Activities/Problems, Unit Learning Outcomes, and an Equation Sheet for a Unit on Classical Mechanics Orbits. It can be used both to introduce the unit and, even better, for review.
  • Found in: Central Forces course(s)

computer Mathematica Activity

30 min.

Effective Potentials
Students use a pre-written Mathematica notebook or a Geogebra applet to explore how the shape of the effective potential function changes as the various parameters (angular momentum, force constant, reduced mass) are varied.

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Hockey

(Synthesis Problem: Brings together several different concepts from this unit.) Use effective potential diagrams for other than \(1/r^2\) forces.

Consider the frictionless motion of a hockey puck of mass \(m\) on a perfectly circular bowl-shaped ice rink with radius \(a\). The central region of the bowl (\(r < 0.8a\)) is perfectly flat and the sides of the ice bowl smoothly rise to a height \(h\) at \(r = a\).

  1. Draw a sketch of the potential energy for this system. Set the zero of potential energy at the top of the sides of the bowl.
  2. Situation 1: the puck is initially moving radially outward from the exact center of the rink. What minimum velocity does the puck need to escape the rink?
  3. Situation 2: a stationary puck, at a distance \(\frac{a}{2}\) from the center of the rink, is hit in such a way that it's initial velocity \(\vec v_0\) is perpendicular to its position vector as measured from the center of the rink. What is the total energy of the puck immediately after it is struck?
  4. In situation 2, what is the angular momentum of the puck immediately after it is struck?
  5. Draw a sketch of the effective potential for situation 2.
  6. In situation 2, for what minimum value of \(\vec v_0\) does the puck just escape the rink?

  • Found in: Central Forces course(s)

face Lecture

10 min.

Introduction to Central Forces
  • Found in: Central Forces course(s)

Consider a mass \(\mu\) in the potential shown in the graph below. You give the mass a push so that its initial angular momentum is \(\ell\ne 0\) for a given fixed value of \(\ell\).

  1. Give the definition of a central force system and briefly explain why this situation qualifies.
  2. Make a sketch of the graph of the effective potential for this situation.
  3. How should you push the puck to establish a circular orbit? (i.e. Characterize the initial position, direction of push, and strength of the push. You do NOT need to solve any equations.)
  4. BRIEFLY discuss the possible orbit shapes that can arise from this effective potential. Include a discussion of whether the orbits are open or closed, bound or unbound, etc. Make sure that you refer to your sketch of the effective potential in your discussions, mark any points of physical significance on the sketch, and describe the range of parameters relevant to each type of orbit. Include a discussion of the role of the total energy of the orbit.

  • Found in: Central Forces course(s)

group Small Group Activity

10 min.

Matrix Representation of Angular Momentum
This activity allows students to puzzle through indexing, the from of operators in quantum mechanics, and working with the new quantum numbers on the sphere in an applied context.