Hi, quick problem regarding emission of gamma ray.

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on calculating the recoil speed of a Fe (57) nucleus after it emits a gamma ray during its decay from an excited state. Initially, there is confusion regarding the momentum of photons, as they are massless yet still possess momentum defined by the equation p = E/c. Participants clarify that conservation of momentum can be applied, leading to the realization that the recoil velocity can be approximated using this principle. The problem becomes straightforward once the correct relationship between photon energy and momentum is acknowledged. Ultimately, the user successfully solves the problem by applying these concepts.
teclo
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A Fe (57) atom is in an excited state 14.4 keV above the ground state. The nucleus decays to the ground state with the emission of a gamm ray. What's the recoil speed of the nucleus?

I'm not sure how to set this up. I thought a photon would have no mass, therefor no momentum. If so I couldn't do this with conservation of momenumtum or energy. I must be missing something, anyone have any ideas?
 
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The closest thing my book has to a simliar example is dealing with the Rutherford experiement.

K(1) + 0 = K(3) + K(4)

so i would think that the initial energy of the atom equals the energy of the photon plus the energy of the atom after emission. I'm not sure about how to setup something like this though.
 
teclo said:
I thought a photon would have no mass, therefor no momentum.
Despite being massless, photons do have momentum: p = E/c.
 
teclo said:
A Fe (57) atom is in an excited state 14.4 keV above the ground state. The nucleus decays to the ground state with the emission of a gamm ray. What's the recoil speed of the nucleus?

I'm not sure how to set this up. I thought a photon would have no mass, therefor no momentum. If so I couldn't do this with conservation of momenumtum or energy. I must be missing something, anyone have any ideas?

A photon DOES have a momentum.

http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/Photon.html

Even the classical version of light as EM radiation has something called "radiation pressure".

So, knowing this, can you now do the problem?

Zz.
 
ZapperZ said:
A photon DOES have a momentum.

http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/Photon.html

Even the classical version of light as EM radiation has something called "radiation pressure".

So, knowing this, can you now do the problem?

Zz.

yes, acutally i worked the problem out earlier. i forgot that p of the photon is E/c.

with that it was rather easy to approximate the recoil velocity of the nucleus using conservation of momentum. if reference frame observes initial excited nucleus as v of 0

0 = mv + E/c

i was making this harder than it really was
 

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