Computer Aided Sketching

To help you draw wave functions, use the Wave Function Sketcher program.

The program has a window for drawing wave functions and another the energies. Generally, we will establish the energy graph first. This graph is based on the physical situation. Our first situation will be the one describe in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3: Potential & Total Energy of an electron approaching a sample.

First have a look at the Wave Function Sketcher program to familiarize yourself with how it works.

The vertical dotted lines on the screen mark the boundary between regions. Move it to the location that you wish to use for the change in potential energy as shown in Figure 3.

Now we wish to set the values of the potential energy. Using the "Potential" tab at the bottom of the screen and adjust the "Height" and "Right Level" both to 2eV. Adjust the "Total Energy" to 3eV. The potential energy diagram should look like Figure 4.

You have now completed step 1 in drawing wave functions, you have taken a physical situation drawn the energy graph and determined the boundaries.

Figure 4: The total energy line and potential energy diagram as shown by the Wave Function Sketcher computer program.