Amadameus writes:
What exactly is Compton Scattering?
You can easily use google to find out the answer. Here's my version:
If an energetic photon hits an electron bounded to an atom, the electron gets sufficient energy to escape. If the photon is not energetic enough, the electron may not escape, instead may just get excited to a higher energy level. Compton scattering happens when high energy photons (xrays) hit an electron.
To derive the Compton Scattering equation, you have to do the following:
1) Conserve energy.
2) Conserve momentum.
3) Assume that the photon has a momentum of h/L (L=wavelength)
4) Assume that the mass of the electron (m) is m
o/sqrt(1-v
2/c
2)
5) Assume that the energy of the electron is mc
2
6) Assume that the momentum of the electron is mv
The rest is mathematical jugglery.
This message has been edited by peaceharris, 04-18-2005 07:24 AM
This message has been edited by peaceharris, 04-18-2005 07:25 AM