Recoil speed of an atomic nucleus

AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around calculating the recoil speed of an atomic nucleus after it emits a gamma ray of 24.0 keV. The nucleus has a mass of 9.53e-26 kg, and the challenge lies in applying the correct physics principles to find the recoil speed. Initially, the poster struggled with the calculations, attempting to equate kinetic energy with rest energy and gamma ray energy without success. Guidance was provided to use conservation of momentum and the photon momentum formula to solve the problem. Ultimately, the correct recoil speed of the nucleus is determined to be 134 m/s.
Qnslaught
Messages
8
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement



An atomic nucleus is in an excited state. It decays to its ground state with the emission of a gamma ray having energy, Egamma = 24.0 keV. The nucleus has a mass of 9.53e-26 kg. What is the recoil speed of the nucleus? (Note: This may be an inelastic collision)

Homework Equations


1 eV = 1.6e-19 J

The Attempt at a Solution


I tried setting the final kinetic equal to the rest energy, and I tried setting it equal to the energy of the gamma ray, and I can't get the answer. The answer key lists the correct answer as 134 m/s, and I have no idea how to get to that.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Why not use conservation of momentum?
Use the special formula for the momentum of a photon, using its energy to calculate its momentum.
 
Thank you, I got it now :)
 

Thread 'Rolling without slipping on a curved surface'

Kindly see the attached pdf. My attempt to solve it, is in it. I'm wondering if my solution is right. My idea is this: At any point of time, the ball may be assumed to be at an incline which is at an angle of θ(kindly see both the pics in the pdf file). The value of θ will continuously change and so will the value of friction. I'm not able to figure out, why my solution is wrong, if it is wrong .
View full post »
Thread 'Voltmeter readings for this circuit with switches'

Thread 'Voltmeter readings for this circuit with switches'

TL;DR Summary: I would like to know the voltmeter readings on the two resistors separately in the picture in the following cases , When one of the keys is closed When both of them are opened (Knowing that the battery has negligible internal resistance) My thoughts for the first case , one of them must be 12 volt while the other is 0 The second case we'll I think both voltmeter readings should be 12 volt since they are both parallel to the battery and they involve the key within what the...
View full post »
Thread 'Trying to understand the logic behind adding vectors with an angle between them'

Thread 'Trying to understand the logic behind adding vectors with an angle between them'

My initial calculation was to subtract V1 from V2 to show that from the perspective of the second aircraft the first one is -300km/h. So i checked with ChatGPT and it said I cant just subtract them because I have an angle between them. So I dont understand the reasoning of it. Like why should a velocity be dependent on an angle? I was thinking about how it would look like if the planes where parallel to each other, and then how it look like if one is turning away and I dont see it. Since...
View full post »

Similar threads

Energy of the photon emitted in a gamma ray decay
Replies
19
Views
3K
What is the energy of the alpha particle and recoiling nucleus?
Replies
9
Views
6K
Alpha Particle & Gold Nucleus Collision
Replies
17
Views
15K
Finding recoil velocity of an object during a collision
Replies
9
Views
2K
Potential difference of helium nucleus question
Replies
2
Views
8K
What is the orbital radius of a muon captured in the n=1 ground state of Carbon?
Replies
13
Views
3K
Electrons and their little role in nuclear physics
Replies
1
Views
2K
What is the correction to the wavelength of an emitted photon due to recoil?
Replies
4
Views
4K
Magnitude of the current flowing around the nucleus in the Bohr mode
Replies
3
Views
3K
Caesium 137 is an unstable isomer
Replies
13
Views
3K

Hot Threads

Recent Insights

Back
Top