Massive stars ending their lives in supernova explosions produce the nuclei of all the atoms in the bottom half of the periodic table by fusion of smaller nuclei. This problem roughly models that process. A particle of mass m moving along the x axis with a velocity component +u collides head-on and sticks to a particle of mass m/3 moving along the x axis with the velocity component -u. (a) What is the mass M of the resulting particle? (b) Evaluate the expression from part (a) in the limit u → 0. (c) Explain whether the result agrees with what you should expect from nonrelativistic physics.
Massive stars ending their lives in supernova explosions produce the nuclei of all the atoms in the bottom half of the periodic table by fusion of smaller nuclei. This problem roughly models that process. A particle of mass m moving along the x axis with a velocity component +u collides head-on and sticks to a particle of mass m/3 moving along the x axis with the velocity component -u. (a) What is the mass M of the resulting particle? (b) Evaluate the expression from part (a) in the limit u → 0. (c) Explain whether the result agrees with what you should expect from nonrelativistic physics.
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Massive stars ending their lives in supernova explosions produce the nuclei of all the atoms in the bottom half of the periodic table by fusion of smaller nuclei. This problem roughly models that process. A particle of mass m moving along the x axis with a velocity component +u collides head-on and sticks to a particle of mass m/3 moving along the x axis with the velocity component -u. (a) What is the mass M of the resulting particle? (b) Evaluate the expression from part (a) in the limit u → 0. (c) Explain whether the result agrees with what you should expect from nonrelativistic physics.
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