What is the velocity of an electronwith a kinetic energy of


One of Einstein's contributions to the field of mechanics was toshow that the total energy of a particle is given by the equationE =m0c2q1 -v2c2where c is the speed of light, v is the speed of the particle, and m0 is the restmass of the particle (the normal mass when it is not moving). Clearly the "restmass energy" is when v = 0 and then we have the familiar E = m0c2.Since this is the total energy, it should also be equal to the sum of the"rest mass energy" and kinetic energy K combined, since these are the only twosources of energy here.E = m0c2 + KGiven that these two equations are equal, what is the velocity of an electronwith a kinetic energy of K = 50 keV? What fraction of the speed of light isthis? The rest mass of the electron is m0 = 9.11 × 10-31 kg, and the speed oflight is c = 3 × 108 m/s.Hint: It may be easier to pre-calculate m0c2in terms of eV first, and treat that as a combined unit in the algebra.

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Physics: What is the velocity of an electronwith a kinetic energy of
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