Section 7.4: Exploring Energy Eigenstates Using the Shooting Method

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A particle is confined to a box with hard walls at x = −3 and x = 3 and an unknown potential energy function within the box.  Change the energy slider and examine the solutions to the time-independent Schrödinger equation for this system.  In the animation, ħ = 2m = 1.  Restart.

  1. Determine  the energy of the ground state.  Start by entering the energy value 4.86 in the slider text box.  Use a procedure similar to the following: Enter 4.86.  Enter 4.861, 4.862, ....  What does the wave function look like when you over/under shoot the energy?

  2. How many energy eigenstates (states that also satisfy the boundary conditions) are between E = 0 and E = 20?

  3. Determine  the energy eigenvalues for the system between E = 0 and E = 20.

  4. Examine each eigenfunction and sketch a reasonable guess for the potential energy function. Make sure that you also explain your reasoning for the functional form of your sketch.

 

 

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