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Homework Statement
[tex] p+^{7}Li \rightarrow ^{4}He +^{4}He[/tex]
Mass of 7Li = 6533.8 MeV/c^2
Calculate the kinetic energy of each helium nucleus if the incident proton has nearly zero kinetic energy. Answer: 8.68MeV
Homework Equations
[tex] E_{total}=\frac{mc^{2}}{\sqrt{1-(\frac{v}{c})^2}}[/tex]
The Attempt at a Solution
I tried to apply conservation of momentum here:
[tex]E_{iproton}=mc^{2}=938.27MeV[/tex]
[tex]E_{iLi} = 6533.8MeV[/tex]
By conservation, these quantities should be conserved, so I add them which gives me the wrong answer. I'm definitely missing some crucial concept here. If anyone could help me figure this out I would appreciate it greatly.