difference between transmission and tunneling
Answers
Answer:
The difference is what tunnels-- a nucleus or an electron. In quantum mechanics (QM) a particle has a wavelength (really a spectrum of them) and is an extended object like a wave packet. As such it can move from an area of high to low potential, if the barrier between is not infinitely high. So it can "tunnel" through a barrier that would stop a classical particle, and escape.
This probability all depends on the ratio of wavelength to barrier height and thickness. You can see that electrons tunnel more easily since their low mass and momentum increases their wavelength. Tunneling was in fact predicted for electrons (during emission from metals) by J Robert Oppenheimer. But it was alpha tunneling out of the nucleus which explained the known Geiger-Nuttall relation, as shown by a young Gamow, that made the process famous. It's a straightforward prediction of QM, but because it had no classical analogue, it took a while before scientists realized it was happening and explained things that couldn't be explained in any other way.
Answer:
Tunneling is a quantum mechanical phenomenon when a particle is able to penetrate through a potential energy barrier that is higher in energy than the particle's kinetic energy. This amazing property of microscopic particles play important roles in explaining several physical phenomena including radioactive decay.
Quantum tunneling plays an essential role in physical phenomena, such as nuclear fusion. It has applications in the tunnel diode, quantum computing, and in the scanning tunneling microscope. The effect was predicted in the early 20th century. Its acceptance as a general physical phenomenon came mid-century.