How much total kinetic energy will an electron-positron pair have if produced by a photon of energy 2.40 MeV?
I would greatly appreciate any help anyone could give on this! Thank you!
2007-04-12 07:02:57 · 3 answers · asked by TMCO 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Take the mass of both particles (expressed in eV) and subtract them from 2.4 MeV. The remainder is the kinetic energy.
2007-04-12 07:11:58 · answer #1 · answered by Gene 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1.022 MeV is the rest mass of the electron-positron pair and the rest of the energy will be the kinetic energy. That is 2.4 minus 1.022 = 1.378 MeV, which is divided equally between the electron and the poistron to conserve the momentum.
2007-04-12 07:13:03 · answer #2 · answered by Swamy 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
A lonely photon cannot do any such thing, because it
will violate conservation of energy-momentum.
It must collide with at least one other particle, the
energy-momentum of the latter will determine
the resulting enegy of the electron-positron pair born.
2007-04-12 07:32:06 · answer #3 · answered by Alexander 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋