Delta potential

Okay kiddo, imagine you have a ball and you're standing near a wall. Now, you throw the ball towards the wall and it hits the wall and bounces back to you. But before the ball hits the wall, imagine there's a little bump or delta in front of the wall.

A delta potential is like that little bump in front of the wall. It's a sudden change in the potential energy of a particle or object because of something that gets in its way. It's kind of like a speed bump for particles.

In science, we use the term "potential energy" to describe how much energy something has depending on where it is and what's around it. It's like how you have more energy when you're running than when you're sitting down. A delta potential affects the potential energy of particles or objects by suddenly changing the energy levels.

So, just like a ball hitting a delta in front of a wall will get its energy level changed, the same thing can happen to sub-atomic particles. Say there's an electron moving towards an atom. If it encounters a delta potential, like a sudden change in the charge of the atom's nucleus, it can cause the electron to change direction or even stop moving altogether.

Hope that helps you understand what a delta potential is!