Th rest energy of a proton is 938Mev calculate the relativisitic kinetic energy of a porton moving with a speed 0.5c

Answer 1

To calculate the relativistic kinetic energy of a proton moving at 0.5c, we can use the following formula:

K = (γ - 1)mc^2

where:
K is the relativistic kinetic energy,
γ (gamma) is the Lorentz factor, calculated as γ = 1 / sqrt(1 - v^2/c^2)
m is the mass of the proton,
c is the speed of light (approximately 3 * 10^8 m/s, for calculation purposes),
and v is the velocity of the proton (0.5c).

First, we'll find the Lorentz factor (γ):

v = 0.5c
v^2/c^2 = (0.5c)^2 / c^2 = 0.25

So,

γ = 1 / sqrt(1 - 0.25)
γ = 1 / sqrt(0.75)
γ ≈ 1.155

Now, we can find the mass of the proton in terms of MeV/c^2. The rest energy (or mass-energy) of the proton is given as 938 MeV.

E = mc^2
m = E / c^2
m ≈ 938 MeV / c^2

Now we can plug in the values into the kinetic energy formula:

K = (γ - 1)mc^2
K ≈ (1.155 - 1) * 938 MeV / c^2 * c^2
K ≈ 0.155 * 938 MeV
K ≈ 145.37 MeV

Thus, the relativistic kinetic energy of a proton moving at 0.5c is approximately 145.37 MeV.