Modern Physics: October 1, 2013

Solutions for the Homework 2

Problem 1.11: A galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major is receding from the earth as 15, 000km/s.
If one of the characteristic wavelengths of the light the galaxy emits is 550nm, what is the
corresponding wavelength measured by astronomers on the earth?
Solution: Use the our Doppler effect formula with positive sign for receding direction. (Eq.
1.6) s s
c c 1 + v/c 1 + v/c
λ = = = λ0 = 578nm.
ν ν0 1 − v/c 1 − v/c
Detail calculation for λ (link)

Problem 1.16: (a) Show that when v c, the formulas for the doppler effect both in light and in
sound for an observer approaching a source, and vice versa, all reduce to ν ≈ ν0 (1 + v/c), so that
δν/ν ≈ v/c. [Hint: For x 1, 1/(1 + x) ≈ 1 − x.] (b) What do the formulas for an observer
receding from a source, and vice versa, reduce to when v c?
Solution: (a) For non-relativistic case, suppose that V is a velocity of source and positive sign
for the direction to observer. And also define the sign of v is positive when observer approaching
to sources. (See Eq. 1.4) Then, there are two cases. v = 0 and V C for moving source case
and V = 0 and v c for moving observer case but each cases reduces to the same form up to
first order of v/c.

1 + v/c 1
ν = ν0 = ν0 ≈ ν0 (1 + V /c),
1 − V /c 1 − V /c

1 + v/c
ν = ν0 = ν0 (1 + v/c).
1 − V /c

For relativistic case, we don’t need to split the cases of moving source and observer, so use the
Eq. 1.7 with the condition v c. Then,
s
1 + v/c
ν = ν0 ≈ ν0 (1 + v/2c)2 ≈ ν0 (1 + v/c),
1 − v/c

where this result is same for non-relativistic case.

(b) When the observer receding from the light and sound source, the case is same as the previous
case with only different sign. So the result will be

ν = ν0 (1 − v/c).

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Modern Physics: October 1, 2013

Problem 2.9: Light from the sun arrives at the earth, an average of 1.5 × 1011 m away, at the rate
of 1.4 × 103 W/m2 of area perpendicular to the direction of the light. Assume that sunlight is
monochromatic with a frequency of 5.0 × 1014 Hz. (a) How many photons fall per second on
each square meter of the earth’s surface directly facing the sun? (b) What is the power output
of the sun, and how many photons per second does it emit? (c) How many photons per cubic
meter are there near the earth?
Solution: (a) Let the number of falling photons per second per square meter as l. Then,
Power per area
l = = 4.2 × 1021 /s · m2 .
h × Frequency of each photon
Detail calculation for l (link)
(b) Since we know the power per area at earth orbit, we can get the power output of the sun as
follows:
P = Power per area × Area of earth orbital sphere = 4.0 × 1026 W,
and the number of photons per second emitted, m as follows:
m = P/(h × Frequency of each photon) = 1.2 × 1045 /s.
Detail calculation for P (link)
Detail calculation for m (link)
(c) Let the number of photons as n. From (a), there are 4.2 × 1021 photons in the volume
c × 1s × 1m2 . So,
n = Result of (a)/c = 1.4 × 1013 /m3 .
Detail calculation for n (link)
Problem 2.21: Electrons are accelerated in television tubes through potential differences of about
10kV . Find the highest frequency of the electromagnetic waves emitted when these electrons
strike the screen of the tube. What kind of waves are these?
Solution: The energy of electron is e × 10kV and it is same as the possible maximum energy
of electromagnetic waves. So, the highest frequency of electromagnetic wave is
eV
ν = = 2.4 × 1018 Hz,
h
which corresponds to x-ray. (See Fig. 2.2)
Detail calculation for ν (link)
Problem 2.27: In Sec. 2.7 the x-rays scattered by a crystal were assumed to undergo no change in
wavelength. Show that this assumption is reasonable by calculating the Compton wavelength of
a Na atom and comparing it with the typical x-ray wavelength of 0.1nm.
Solution: Let the mass of Na atom as M . To get the Compton wavelength, follow the Sec. 2.7
and replace the mass of electron to Na atoms. Then,
h
λC = = 5.7896 × 10−17 m.
Mc
This is much less than the given typical x-ray wavelength.
Detail calculation for λC (link)

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Modern Physics: October 1, 2013

Problem 2.35: A photon of frequency ν is scattered by an electron initially at rest. Verify that the
maximum kinetic energy of the recoil electron is KEmax = (2h2 ν 2 /mc2 )/(1 + 2hν/mc2 ).
Solution: Follow the Sec. 2.7 and from the Eq. 2.20 with φ = 180◦ ,

2(hν)(hν 0 )
KEmax = .
mc2
Since ν 0 /ν = λ/λ0 ,

λ λ λ ν
ν0 = ν = ν = ν = ,
λ0 λ + ∆λ λ + 2h/mc 1 + 2hν/mc2

and using this relation,

2h2 ν 2 /mc2
KEmax = .
1 + 2hν/mc2

Problem 2.39: A positron collides head on with an electron and both are annihilated. Each particle
had a kinetic energy of 1.00M eV . Find the wavelength of the resulting photons.
Solution: This process make two photons. Since total energy of electron and positron is 2 ×
1.00M eV + 2 × 0.511M eV = 3.02M eV . (Rest energy of electron is 0.511M eV .) Then, the
wavelength of photon is
2hc
λ = = 8.21 × 10−13 m.
3.02M eV
Detail calculation for λ (link)

Problem 2.40: A positron with a kinetic energy of 2.000M eV collides with an electron at rest and
the two particles are annihilated. Two photons are produced; one moves in the same direction
as the incoming positron and the other moves in the opposite direction. Find the energies of the
photons.
Solution: Suppose that the electron mass is m, the total energy of positron is E = 2.511M eV
and each photon have an energy E and a momentum p with indices 1 for same direction and 2
for opposite direction as the incoming positron. Then,

p = p1 − p2 ⇒ pc = E1 − E2 ,

from the momentum conservation and

E + mc2 = E1 + E2 ,

from the energy conservation. Using these two equations,

√
E + mc2 + pc E + mc2 + E 2 − m2 c4
E1 = = = 2.740M eV,
2 2
E2 = E + mc2 − E1 = 0.282M eV.

Detail calculation for E1 (link)

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Modern Physics: October 1, 2013

Problem 2.42: (a) Verify that the minimum energy a photon must have to create an electron-positron
pair in the presence of a stationary nucleus of mass M is 2mc2 (1+m/M ), where m is the electron
rest mass. (b) Find the minimum energy needed for pair production in the presence of a proton.
Solution: (a) In the zero momentum frame, there are electron, positron and nucleus. So, the
total energy of this system is summation of all rest energy and kinetic energy, KE. Then the
invariant mass M is M = ((2m + M )c2 ) + KE)2 . Now, consider the given situation in the
problem. In this frame, invariant mass will be same as the zero momentum case. From this
relation,
(pc + M c2 )2 − p2 c2 ≥ (2m + M )2 c4 ⇒ pc ≥ 2mc2 (1 + m/M ).
So, the minimum energy a photon must have is 2mc2 (1 + m/M ).
(b) Generally, M m and so the minimum energy needed is

pc ≈ 2mc2 = 1.022M eV.