Assignment:
Question 1. The sun is powered mostly by the fusion of two protons into the following particles:
H^1+ H^1→ H^2+e+ ν
Classically for this reaction to happen, the protons must come close enough to each other to "touch". Assume the proton is a uniformly charged, solid sphere of radius rp = 1.5 x 10-18m and that for fusion to occur the centers of two protons must come within a distance rP m of each other.
Begin with two protons that start very far apart from each other traveling toward another with equal and opposite velocities. What minimum speed v is required for the two protons to have a chance at fusing together to produce the above reaction?