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Quantum Physics For Dummies, Revised Edition
book

Quantum Physics For Dummies, Revised Edition

by Steve Holzner
January 2013
Beginner to intermediate content levelBeginner to intermediate
336 pages
5h 35m
English
For Dummies
Content preview from Quantum Physics For Dummies, Revised Edition

Chapter 8

Solving Problems in Three Dimensions: Spherical Coordinates

In This Chapter

arrow Problems in spherical coordinates

arrow Free particles in spherical coordinates

arrow Square well potentials

arrow Isotropic harmonic oscillators

In your other life as a sea captain-slash-pilot, you’re probably pretty familiar with latitude and longitude — coordinates that basically name a couple of angles as measured from the center of the Earth. Put together the angle east or west, the angle north or south, and the all-important distance from the center of the Earth, and you have a vector that gives a good description of location in three dimensions. That vector is part of a spherical coordinate system.

Navigators talk more about the pair of angles than the distance (“Earth’s surface” is generally specific enough for them), but quantum physicists find both angles and radius length important. Some 3D quantum physics problems even allow you to break down a wave function into two parts: an angular part and a radial part.

In this chapter, I discuss three-dimensional problems that are best handled using spherical coordinates. ...

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Quantum Physics For Dummies, Revised Edition

Quantum Physics For Dummies, Revised Edition

Steven Holzner

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781118460863Purchase book