If numerically, the momentum and position uncertainties are equal, what is the uncertainty in the velocity?
1 Answer
Do note that this question doesn't make physical sense. Position and momentum have different units...
We refer to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle:
#DeltaxDeltap_x >= ℏ//2# where
#Deltax# and#Deltap_x# are the uncertainties in position and momentum, respectively.#ℏ = h//2pi# is the reduced Planck's constant.
And so, if
#(Deltap_x)^2 >= ℏ//2#
Assuming the relativistic mass is equal to the rest mass, and knowing consequently that if
#(mDeltav_x)^2 >= ℏ//2#
#m^2(Deltav_x)^2 >= ℏ//2#
And so, the uncertainty in the speed is:
#color(blue)(Deltav_x >= (ℏ/(2m^2))^"1/2" "m"/"s")#
#ℏ# is very small, so it is very difficult to have a large uncertainty in speed unless the object is very light. For an electron:
#Deltav_x >= ((6.626 xx 10^(-34))/(4pi(9.109 xx 10^(-31))^2))^"1/2" "m"/"s"#
#>= ul(7.97 xx 10^12 " m/s")#
As expected, if we know the mass and momentum of an ELECTRON to the same uncertainty (whatever that means... they are different observables), the speed is not known well.