Atkins & de Paula:
Physical Chemistry for the Life Sciences
The wavefunction for a particle with an ill-defined location can be regarded as the sum (superposition) of several wavefunctions of different wavelength that interfere constructively in one place but destructively elsewhere. As more waves are used in the superposition, the location becomes more precise at the expense of uncertainty in the particle's momentum. An infinite number of waves is needed to construct the wavefunction of a perfectly localized particle. The wavefunction is given by
Where N is number of waves to sum. Normalization is accomplished by dividing by the square root of N (which is proportional to the actual normalization constant).
To graph wavefunction enter the parameter (i.e., N) and hit New Plot.
Up to 5 plots can be displayed at one time. The Clear button will remove all plots. To see the parameters
for each plot hit the Legend on/off button. The Redraw button will refresh the graph. This is useful when
the function domain (i.e., x ) has been changed. To see the value of each plot at a given point,
move your cursor to the desired location then click and hold. Toggle between a plot of f(x) or f(x)2 by
clicking its radio button.