1998
DOI: 10.1119/1.18808
|View full text |Cite
|
Sign up to set email alerts
|

Visualizing motion in potential wells

Abstract: The concept of potential energy diagrams is of fundamental importance in the study of quantum physics. Yet, students are rarely exposed to this powerful alternative description in introductory classes and, thus, have difficulty comprehending its significance when they encounter it in beginning level quantum courses. We describe a learning unit that incorporates a sequence of computer interfaced experiments using dynamics or air track systems. This unit is designed to make the learning of potential energy diagr… Show more

Help me understand this report

Search citation statements

Order By: Relevance

Paper Sections

Select...
2
2
1

Citation Types

0
46
0

Year Published

2006
2006
2022
2022

Publication Types

Select...
4
1
1

Relationship

0
6

Authors

Journals

citations
Cited by 52 publications
(46 citation statements)
references
References 5 publications
0
46
0
Order By: Relevance
“…Our prior research shows [13] that different instructors categorize a given QM question in different ways so the categorization shown in Table 1 is only one of them that we found convenient. The group "Other" includes questions about the uncertainty principle, the concept of degeneracy in the context of a free particle, and the Ehrenfest theorem that says that the expectation value of a physical observable obeys the classical laws [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Below, we summarize the common difficulties found via the QMS in the sub-category of the time dependence of expectation values.…”
Section: The Survey Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
See 3 more Smart Citations
“…Our prior research shows [13] that different instructors categorize a given QM question in different ways so the categorization shown in Table 1 is only one of them that we found convenient. The group "Other" includes questions about the uncertainty principle, the concept of degeneracy in the context of a free particle, and the Ehrenfest theorem that says that the expectation value of a physical observable obeys the classical laws [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Below, we summarize the common difficulties found via the QMS in the sub-category of the time dependence of expectation values.…”
Section: The Survey Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…In Question (2), the initial state is an energy eigenstate, so the expectation value of any timeindependent operator is time-independent. The most common mistake in Question (2) was that the students believed that the expectation values of position and momentum depend on time in a stationary state. The initial state in Question (23) is a linear superposition of the stationary states 2 / ) (…”
Section: The Survey Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
See 2 more Smart Citations
“…Learning quantum mechanics concepts can be challenging even for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in physics [1][2][3][4][5][6]. We have been examining student difficulties in learning quantum mechanics.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%