Question

An atom in a metastable state has a lifetime of 5.2 ms. What is the uncertainty in energy of the metastable state?

Short answer

The minimum uncertainty in energy of the metastable state is

Step-by-step solution

Uncertainty in the energy

For a given time, the uncertainty in the energy of a state is given by;

Uncertainty in energy of the metastable state

the lifetime of the metastable state as the maximum uncertainty in timewhereis the value of the metastable state's energy;

Hence, the minimum uncertainty in energy of the metastable state is