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JaWiB
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Homework Statement
Consider the statement below made by a student: "Muons have a higher mass than electrons, but because the energy, E, is related to the wavelength by E=hc/[tex]\lambda[/tex], muons that have the same kinetic energy as electrons will also have the same wavelength."
Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Explain your reasoning.
Homework Equations
[tex]\lambda=h/p[/tex] (de Broglie wavelength)
The Attempt at a Solution
The statement seems wrong to me. If you substitute in for [tex]\lambda[/tex] in the first equation, you get cp, but kinetic energy is p^2/(2m) and those two can't be the same (solving for c gives c=v/2).
I'd never seen the first equation before, but looking in my textbook it looks like E is the change in energy of an atom when a photon is absorbed or emitted and I don't know how you could apply it to an electron/muon (can you?)