A neutron, with rest energy 939.6 MeV, has momentum 935 MeV/c downward. What is its total energy?

Short Answer

Expert verified
Answer: The total energy of the neutron is approximately 1325.4 MeV.

Step by step solution

01

Write down the relativistic energy-momentum relation

The relativistic energy-momentum relation is given by the following formula: E^2 = (mc^2)^2 + (pc)^2 Here, E represents the total energy of the neutron, m is its rest mass, c is the speed of light, and p is its momentum.
02

Convert rest energy to rest mass

We are given the rest energy of the neutron, which is 939.6 MeV. Let's convert it to rest mass using the formula: m = E_rest / c^2 We are working in natural units, where c = 1. So the rest mass of the neutron is: m = 939.6 MeV/c^2
03

Plug values into the energy-momentum relation

Now, we will plug the known values into the energy-momentum relation formula. We have m = 939.6 MeV/c^2 and p = 935 MeV/c: E^2 = (939.6)^2 + (935)^2
04

Solve for total energy

Now, solve for E by taking the square root of both sides of the equation: E = sqrt((939.6)^2 + (935)^2) Calculate the value of E: E ≈ 1325.4 MeV
05

Interpret the result

The total energy of the neutron, which includes both its rest energy and kinetic energy, is approximately 1325.4 MeV.

Unlock Step-by-Step Solutions & Ace Your Exams!

  • Full Textbook Solutions

    Get detailed explanations and key concepts

  • Unlimited Al creation

    Al flashcards, explanations, exams and more...

  • Ads-free access

    To over 500 millions flashcards

  • Money-back guarantee

    We refund you if you fail your exam.

Over 30 million students worldwide already upgrade their learning with Vaia!

One App. One Place for Learning.

All the tools & learning materials you need for study success - in one app.

Get started for free

Most popular questions from this chapter

A spaceship travels at constant velocity from Earth to a point 710 ly away as measured in Earth's rest frame. The ship's speed relative to Earth is $0.9999 c .$ A passenger is 20 yr old when departing from Earth. (a) How old is the passenger when the ship reaches its destination, as measured by the ship's clock? (b) If the spaceship sends a radio signal back to Earth as soon as it reaches its destination, in what year, by Earth's calendar, does the signal reach Earth? The spaceship left Earth in the year 2000.
A starship takes 3.0 days to travel between two distant space stations according to its own clocks. Instruments on one of the space stations indicate that the trip took 4.0 days. How fast did the starship travel, relative to that space station?
Kurt is measuring the speed of light in an evacuated chamber aboard a spaceship traveling with a constant velocity of \(0.60 c\) with respect to Earth. The light is moving in the direction of motion of the spaceship. Siu- Ling is on Earth watching the experiment. With what speed does the light in the vacuum chamber travel, according to Siu-Ling's observations?
Suppose that as you travel away from Earth in a spaceship, you observe another ship pass you heading in the same direction and measure its speed to be $0.50 c .$ As you look back at Earth, you measure Earth's speed relative to you to be \(0.90 c .\) What is the speed of the ship that passed you according to Earth observers?
The light-second is a unit of distance; 1 light-second is the distance that light travels in 1 second. (a) Find the conversion between light-seconds and meters: 1 lightsecond \(=? \mathrm{m} .\) (b) What is the speed of light in units of light-seconds per second?
See all solutions

Recommended explanations on Physics Textbooks

View all explanations

What do you think about this solution?

We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.

Study anywhere. Anytime. Across all devices.

Sign-up for free