Many physicists rely on data from particle accelerators for their research. Consider an alpha particle (the nucleus of a helium atom) traveling inside a straight tube 2.0 m long that forms part of a particle accelerator. The alpha particle enters the tube moving at a velocity 9.5 × 105 m/s and emerges from the other end after 8.0 × 10−7 seconds. (a) If the particle’s acceleration is constant, what is its velocity when it leaves the tube? (b) If instead the particle’s acceleration increases linearly with time as a(t) = kt, where k = 1 × 1019 m/s3, what is its velocity when it leaves the tube? (c) Plot the velocity versus time graph for the alpha particle in parts (a) and (b), for the duration of its travel in the tube.
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Many physicists rely on data from particle accelerators for their research. Consider an alpha particle (the nucleus of a helium atom) traveling inside a straight tube 2.0 m long that forms part of a particle accelerator. The alpha particle enters the tube moving at a velocity 9.5 × 105 m/s and emerges from the other end after 8.0 × 10−7 seconds.
(a) If the particle’s acceleration is constant, what is its velocity when it leaves the tube?
(b) If instead the particle’s acceleration increases linearly with time as a(t) = kt, where
k = 1 × 1019 m/s3, what is its velocity when it leaves the tube?
(c) Plot the velocity versus time graph for the alpha particle in parts (a) and (b), for the duration of its travel in the tube.
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