To investigate the structure of extremely small objects, such as viruses, the wavelength of the probing wave should be about one-tenth the size of the object for sharp images. But as the wavelength gets shorter, the energy of a photon of light gets greater and could damage or destroy the object being studied. One alternative is to use electron matter waves instead of light. Viruses vary considerably in size, but 50 nm is not unusual. Suppose you want to study such a virus, using a wave of wavelength 5.00 nm. (a) If you use light of this wavelength, what would be the energy (in eV) of a single photon? (b) If you use an electron of this wavelength, what would be its kinetic energy (in eV)? Is it now clear why matter waves (such as in the electron microscope) are often preferable to electromagnetic waves for studying microscopic objects?
To investigate the structure of extremely
small objects, such as viruses, the wavelength of the probing
wave should be about one-tenth the size of the object for sharp images.
But as the wavelength gets shorter, the energy of a photon of light gets
greater and could damage or destroy the object being studied. One alternative
is to use electron matter waves instead of light. Viruses vary
considerably in size, but 50 nm is not unusual. Suppose you want to
study such a virus, using a wave of wavelength 5.00 nm. (a) If you use
light of this wavelength, what would be the energy (in eV) of a single
photon? (b) If you use an electron of this wavelength, what would be its
kinetic energy (in eV)? Is it now clear why matter waves (such as in the
electron microscope) are often preferable to
studying microscopic objects?
Trending now
This is a popular solution!
Step by step
Solved in 5 steps
