Assuming all protons incident on the earth collide with a nucleon and neutron collisions are equivalent to proton collisions, work out how many years must pass before the Earth undergoes the same number of collisions at equal or higher energies to the FCC and hence explain if this is a sufficient test of the safety of the FCC.
Assuming all protons incident on the earth collide with a nucleon and neutron collisions are equivalent to proton collisions, work out how many years must pass before the Earth undergoes the same number of collisions at equal or higher energies to the FCC and hence explain if this is a sufficient test of the safety of the FCC.
Applications and Investigations in Earth Science (9th Edition)
9th Edition
ISBN:9780134746241
Author:Edward J. Tarbuck, Frederick K. Lutgens, Dennis G. Tasa
Publisher:Edward J. Tarbuck, Frederick K. Lutgens, Dennis G. Tasa
Chapter1: The Study Of Minerals
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 1LR
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![2. The future circular collider (FCC) is proposed to collide protons with energy 50 TeV
head on. There are concerns that being the highest ever energy collider exotic heavy
stable particles could be produced, that interact with nucleons in a chain reaction that
could eventually lead to the destruction of the Earth. Scientists note, however, that
high energy protons from interstellar space hit bodies such at the Earth and Moon on
a regular basis and such collisions could be used to test whether such a scenario could
be ruled out.
[Radius of the Earth = 6,400 km. Age of Earth 4.5 x 10⁹ years. Proton mass is 0.938
GeV/c². Total number of proton-proton collisions expected at the FCC is 3.5 × 10¹8]
The flux of protons hitting the Earth's surface has been measured and can be
approximated at high energies as
do
dE
9 x 1024
E3
[s¹m²eV-¹]
where E is the energy of the incident proton in the Earth's rest frame in eV.
Estimate the rate of protons hitting the Earth with energies above 5.3 x 106 TeV
Assuming all protons incident on the earth collide with a nucleon and neutron
collisions are equivalent to proton collisions, work out how many years must pass
before the Earth undergoes the same number of collisions at equal or higher energies
to the FCC and hence explain if this is a sufficient test of the safety of the FCC.](/v2/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcontent.bartleby.com%2Fqna-images%2Fquestion%2Fa94ef811-7aeb-45cc-a8c4-872250660697%2Fdfa25b71-cd5c-4389-92be-62304eb34698%2Frgqbs87_processed.jpeg&w=3840&q=75)
Transcribed Image Text:2. The future circular collider (FCC) is proposed to collide protons with energy 50 TeV
head on. There are concerns that being the highest ever energy collider exotic heavy
stable particles could be produced, that interact with nucleons in a chain reaction that
could eventually lead to the destruction of the Earth. Scientists note, however, that
high energy protons from interstellar space hit bodies such at the Earth and Moon on
a regular basis and such collisions could be used to test whether such a scenario could
be ruled out.
[Radius of the Earth = 6,400 km. Age of Earth 4.5 x 10⁹ years. Proton mass is 0.938
GeV/c². Total number of proton-proton collisions expected at the FCC is 3.5 × 10¹8]
The flux of protons hitting the Earth's surface has been measured and can be
approximated at high energies as
do
dE
9 x 1024
E3
[s¹m²eV-¹]
where E is the energy of the incident proton in the Earth's rest frame in eV.
Estimate the rate of protons hitting the Earth with energies above 5.3 x 106 TeV
Assuming all protons incident on the earth collide with a nucleon and neutron
collisions are equivalent to proton collisions, work out how many years must pass
before the Earth undergoes the same number of collisions at equal or higher energies
to the FCC and hence explain if this is a sufficient test of the safety of the FCC.
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