What is the Compton Effect?

Answer 1

Compton scattering or the Compton effect, is the decrease in energy (increase in wavelength) of an X-ray or gamma ray photon, when it interacts with matter.
The amount the wavelength increases by is called the Compton shift. Although nuclear compton scattering exists, Compton scattering usually refers to the interaction involving only the electrons of an atom. Compton effect was observed by Arthur Holly Compton in 1923 and further verified by his graduate student Y. H. Woo in the years followed. Arthur Compton earned the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery.

The effect is important because it demonstrates that light cannot be explained purely as a wave phenomenon. Thomson scattering, the classical theory of charged particles scattered by an electromagnetic wave, cannot explain any shift in wavelength. Light must behave as if it consists of particles in order to explain the Compton scattering. Compton's experiment convinced physicists that light can behave as a stream of particles whose energy is proportional to the frequency.

The interaction between high energy photons and electrons results in the electron being given part of the energy (making it recoil), and a photon containing the remaining energy being emitted in a different direction from the original, so that the overall momentum of the system is conserved. If the photon still has enough energy left, the process may be repeated.

Compton scattering occurs in all materials and predominantly with photons of medium energy, i.e. about 0.5 to 3.5 MeV. It is also observed that high-energy photons; photons of visible light or higher frequency, for example, have sufficient energy to even eject the bound electrons from the atom (Photoelectric effect).

Compton scattering is of prime importance to radiobiology, as it happens to be the most probable interaction of high energy X rays with atomic nuclei in living beings and is applied in radiation therapy.

Compton scattering has on occasion been proposed as an alternative explanation for the phenomenon of the redshift by opponents of the Big Bang theory, although this is not generally accepted because the influence of the Compton scattering would be noticeable in the spectral lines of distant objects and this is not observed.

In material physics, Compton scattering can be used to probe the wave function of the electrons in matter in the momentum representation.

Compton Scatter is an important effect in Gamma spectroscopy which gives rise to the Compton edge, as it is possible for the gamma rays to scatter out of the detectors used. Compton suppression is used to detect stray scatter gamma rays to counteract this effect.

Answer 2

Define Compton Effect

Answer 3

The Compton Effect occurs when high frequency light such as x-rays are incident on an atom. A photon is absorbed by an electron in the shells of the atom. This electron is then excited and jumps to a higher energy level. At this point, two things can happen.

1. This electron, or another electron from another level, will drop down to fill the vacancy left by the excited electron. In order to do this, the electron must give up energy in the form of a lower energy photon.

2. The photon is not completely absorbed by the electron and it will be deflected at a different angle with a lowered frequency.

Answer 4

The change in the wavelength of a photon scattered by
free electron. The Moessbauer effect is the opposite.

Answer 5

BANG!!!!!!!