Grade 11Mechanics
(a) In experimental high-energy physics, energetic particles are made to circulate in opposite directions in so-called store age rings and permitted to collide head-on. In this arrangement each particle has the same kinetic energy K in the laboratory. The Collision may be viewed as totally inelastic, in that the rest energy of the two colliding particles, plusall available kinetic energy, can be used to generate new particles and to endow them with kinetic energy. Show that the available energy in this arrangement can be written in the form
where m is the mass of the colliding particles. (b) How much energy is made available when 100-GeV protons are used in this fashion? (c) What proton energy would be required top make 100 GeV available? (Note: Compare your answer with those in Problem 18, which describe another less energy effective bombarding arrangement.)
