4 ms·
I am not a physicist, but I suppose it is because the s-orbital has an amplitude peak at r=0? In other words, it is not so much the antiproton falling to the n
by puzzledobserver 5y ago
I am not a physicist, but I suppose it is because the s-orbital has an amplitude peak at r=0?
In other words, it is not so much the antiproton falling to the nuclear surface as much as the antiproton finding itself at the nuclear surface.
EDIT: The context is that the antiproton was in an orbital with large principal and azimuthal quantum numbers. Still, there would be some non-zero probability of the antiproton finding itself close to the nucleus, no?
- jbay808 5y agoCould we keep it perpetually in an excited state that has no amplitude at the centre?
- marcosdumay 5y agoIt reaches the nucleus by a process of tunneling. You can never completely stop it, but it reacts exponentially to you increasing a barrier.
- jbay808 5y agoAn excited state isn't a barrier, it's a state with a higher energy than ground state. Several non-ground-state orbitals have a wavefunction whose amplitude drops to zero toward the centre. An electron won't tunnel to a location where its wavefunction amplitude is zero.
- zardo 5y agoPractical applications, a laser that explodes if you turn it off.