waves

Wave Packets & Uncertainty

Explore quantum wave packets — superpose plane waves to create a localized particle in 3D. Discover Heisenberg's uncertainty principle through interactive dispersion and group velocity controls.

Wave Packets

A-Level

A wave packet is formed by superposing waves of slightly different frequencies. The packet is localized in space but has a spread in momentum, illustrating Heisenberg's uncertainty principle: Δx·Δp ≥ ℏ/2.

Center k5.0

Spread Δk1.5

N Waves15

📐 Formulas

\Delta x \cdot \Delta p \geq \frac{\hbar}{2}Heisenberg's principle

v_g = \frac{d\omega}{dk}Speed of the envelope

📋 Syllabus

AQA3.12

OCR6.4.1