Chemistry 3730 assignment 4

Due: Wednesday, Oct. 1, 10:00 a.m.

Suppose that a particle in a box is subjected to a perturbing potential

1. Compute the energy shift due to the perturbation for n = 1, 2 and 3.
2. Which of the shifts is greatest? Give a qualitative explanation of why this should be so. It may be helpful to plot or sketch the probability density and perturbation.
3. Draw a diagram showing the original (unperturbed) energies and the perturbed energies on the same scale. (I suggest you do this by hand.) Your energy axis is probably most conveniently labeled in units of .
4. Would the wavelength of the photon required to cause a transition from the ground state to the first excited state increase or decrease after adding the perturbation?