- #1
yeahhyeahyeah
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Hey, I'm pretty confused by this relativistic collision problem.
A particle of mass m moving along the x-axis collides elastically with a 2nd particle of identical mass at rest in the lab frame and scatters. Its final momentum makes an angle theta with the x-axis in the lab. If its initial kinetic energy K0 what is its final kinetic energy?
These are the two equations I am using, in addition to the rest mass invariance:
Conservation of relativistic momentum (in both x and y directions)
Conservation of relativistic energy
Some basic questions I have are -
I can't assume that the collision is symmetric right?
The angle of the first could be different than the angle that the second scatters at?
I end up with 3 equations ( the conservation of momentum in x, y, and conservation of energy) however I have 4 unknowns (the two angles, the two final energies)
Sorry, I would write them out but I'm not good at the LaTeX feature...
A particle of mass m moving along the x-axis collides elastically with a 2nd particle of identical mass at rest in the lab frame and scatters. Its final momentum makes an angle theta with the x-axis in the lab. If its initial kinetic energy K0 what is its final kinetic energy?
These are the two equations I am using, in addition to the rest mass invariance:
Conservation of relativistic momentum (in both x and y directions)
Conservation of relativistic energy
Some basic questions I have are -
I can't assume that the collision is symmetric right?
The angle of the first could be different than the angle that the second scatters at?
I end up with 3 equations ( the conservation of momentum in x, y, and conservation of energy) however I have 4 unknowns (the two angles, the two final energies)
Sorry, I would write them out but I'm not good at the LaTeX feature...