Page 244 - Instant notes

Physical chemistry 230

Fig. 5. The wavefunction
representation of quantum tunneling of
a particle through a non-infinite
potential barrier.

the wall (unless the potential is infinite). The maximum amplitude of the wave-function
falls exponentially within the region of space of the potential barrier and a non-zero
wavefunction beyond the barrier corresponds to a non-zero chance of finding the particle
there. Tunneling probability decreases rapidly with increasing mass of particle, and with
the width of the barrier, so it is generally only an important phenomenon for electrons
and protons over atomic distances.