In an experiment to study nuclear collisions, a beam of lithium-7 nuclei (37Li^{7}_{3}\text{Li}37Li) is directed at a thin gold foil (79197Au^{197}_{79}\text{Au}79197Au). Some lithium nuclei undergo head-on backscattering from the gold nuclei.
At the position of closest approach, the distance between the lithium nucleus and the gold nucleus is 4.8 × 10-14 m. Calculate the magnitude of the electrostatic force F F\,F between the lithium nucleus and the gold nucleus at this position. (Take ε0=8.85×10−12 F m−1\varepsilon_0 = 8.85 \times 10^{-12}\text{ F m}^{-1}ε0=8.85×10−12 F m−1 and e=1.60×10−19 Ce = 1.60 \times 10^{-19}\text{ C}e=1.60×10−19 C)
The initial kinetic energy of each lithium nucleus is 8.5 MeV8.5\text{ MeV}8.5 MeV. Calculate the magnitude of the initial momentum p p\,p of each lithium nucleus. (Take the mass of the lithium-7 nucleus to be 1.16 × 10-26 kg)
15 exam-style questions on OCR A A Level Physics Electric fields, covering Point and spherical charges, Coulomb's law, Uniform electric field, and Electric potential and energy. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.