Editing Potential well (section)

==Overview==
Energy may be released from a potential well if sufficient energy is added to the system such that the local maximum is surmounted. In [[quantum physics]], potential energy may escape a potential well without added energy due to the [[probability|probabilistic]] characteristics of [[quantum particle]]s; in these cases a particle may be imagined to [[quantum tunneling|tunnel]] ''through'' the walls of a potential well.

The graph of a 2D potential energy function is a [[potential energy surface]] that can be imagined as the Earth's surface in a landscape of hills and valleys. Then a potential well would be a valley surrounded on all sides with higher terrain, which thus could be filled with water (e.g., be a [[lake]]) without any water flowing away toward another, lower minimum (e.g. [[sea level]]).

In the case of [[gravity]], the region around a mass is a gravitational potential well, unless the density of the mass is so low that [[tidal force]]s from other masses are greater than the gravity of the body itself.

A potential hill is the opposite of a potential well, and is the region surrounding a [[local maximum]].