You are at the controls of a particle accelerator, sending a beam of 4.20×107 m/

Question

You are at the controls of a particle accelerator, sending a beam of 4.20×107 m/s protons (mass m ) at a gas target of an unknown element. Your detector tells you that some protons bounce straight back after a collision with one of the nuclei of the unknown element. All such protons rebound with a speed of 3.90×107 m/s . Assume that the initial speed of the target nucleus is negligible and the collision is elastic.

What is the speed of the unknown nucleus immediately after such a collision? In m/s

Explanation / Answer

elastic collision

e =(v2 -v1)/(u1 - u2)

v2 =final speed of nucleus

v1 = initial speed of nucleus =0

u1 = initial speed of beam particles =4.20*107 m/s

u2 =final speed of beam particles = -3.9*107m/s

e =1

so e =(v2 -v1)/(u1 - u2)

v2 =(4.2-3.9)*107m/s =0.3*107 m/s

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