Recoil hydrogen emitting photon

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AI Thread Summary
The discussion focuses on calculating the recoil of a hydrogen atom emitting a photon with a wavelength of 410.1 nm. The initial calculation involves determining the momentum of the emitted photon and applying conservation of momentum to find the recoil of the hydrogen atom. A complication arises when substituting the electron mass with the reduced mass, as the expected relationship between the two recoil calculations does not yield the anticipated result. The user expresses confusion over why the ratio of the two recoils equals one, despite differing mass considerations. The thread seeks clarification on these calculations to complete the homework assignment.
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Homework Statement


A hydrogen atom at rest emits a photon with wavelength 410.1 nm.
First, calculate the recoil of the hydrogen atom when emitting the photon. (recoil = momentum)
Second, calculate the recoil of the hydrogen if we replace the electron mass with the reduced mass μ.
Third, find the relationship between the two above.


Homework Equations


E=\frac{hc}{\lambda}=pc

p=mv

\mu = \frac{m_{e}m_{p}}{m_{e}+m_{p}}
where me is the electron mass and mp is the proton mass (the core is a proton of course).

The Attempt at a Solution


Alright, the photon has a momentum equal to \frac{hc}{\lambda c} in some random direction. As the momentum is conserved, the hydrogen atom must have gotten the same momentum in the opposite direction, that's the recoil in the first part of the exercise.

HERE COMES THE PROBLEM:
When replacing the electron mass with the reduced mass, the momentum of the hydrogen should be exactly the same as the same type of photon is emitted(?). Thus, if you divide the two recoils with each other, you'll end up with 1. And that's not the answer to this exercise.

Really hope you could help me out with this one, I've been stuck on this for some time now and it's the last exercise on a paper due tomorrow.
 
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