Statement
14.5.13. A stationary nucleus decays, emitting an electron with kinetic energy
Solution
The initial momentum of the system is zero, so the momentum acquired by the nucleus must compensate for the momenta of the emitted particles. Since they move perpendicularly, we can set two coordinate axes along their directions of motion, then
We can also write the invariant for the electron:
And obtain the total momentum of the nucleus from the Pythagorean theorem:
Now we write the expression for kinetic energy and the invariant for the nucleus.
Finally, recall that we are given the kinetic energy of the electron, not the total energy:
Expand the parentheses
To find the numerical value, it is necessary to convert the rest energy into electron volts. For example,
- There is a typo in Savchenko's answer, moreover, the author forgot about the numerical value.
- The author could not have known, but in 2015 the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald, who showed that the neutrino has a non-zero mass, albeit extremely small.