Please wait for the animation to completely load.
The animation shows the time development of a free-particle Gaussian wave packet. You may change the parameters: x0, p0, and α, then click one of the three links to run the animation. The graph shows the real (blue) and imaginary (pink) parts of the wave function, the real (blue) and imaginary (pink) contributions to the probability density, and the total probability density. In the animation, ħ = 2m = 1.
Watch each animation for 1.5 time units before changing values and answering the following questions.
How does the maximum amplitude and width of the wave packet change with time as you vary x0?
How does the maximum amplitude and width of the wave packet change with time as you vary p0?
How does the maximum amplitude and width of the wave packet change with time as you vary α?
Explain why this is. Try to be as complete as possible.