The Free Particle
- A free particle is one which moves through space without experiencing any forces. Hence it travels in a straight line.
- Its potential energy is everywhere constant, and so can be assigned to be 0.
- The energy states are NOT quantized, but any value is allowed.
- The wavefunction solutions are imaginary exponentials, indicating an oscillating amplitude in time and space.
Author: Dan Thomas email: <thomas@chembio.uoguelph.ca>
Last Updated: Saturday, July 6, 1996