To illustrate the idea that the zero-point energy gets larger by going from macroscopic to microscopic systems, calculate the zero-point energy for a particle in an infinite potential well for the following three cases:
(a) a 100 g ball confined on a 5 m long line,
(b) an oxygen atom confined to a 2×10−10 m lattice, and
(c) an electron confined to a 10−10 m atom.