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Compton Effect

The document outlines an experiment to measure the wavelength shift due to the Compton effect and verify the particle nature of light. Compton's 1923 findings demonstrated that scattered X-ray wavelengths increase, contradicting classical physics predictions, and can only be explained by treating photons as particles colliding with electrons. The conclusion affirms the particle nature of photons, supported by the experimental results and conservation laws.

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12 views3 pages

Compton Effect

The document outlines an experiment to measure the wavelength shift due to the Compton effect and verify the particle nature of light. Compton's 1923 findings demonstrated that scattered X-ray wavelengths increase, contradicting classical physics predictions, and can only be explained by treating photons as particles colliding with electrons. The conclusion affirms the particle nature of photons, supported by the experimental results and conservation laws.

Uploaded by

awesomerajput90073
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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COMPTON EFFECT

Aim: 1) To measure shift in wavelength due to Compton effect


2) To verify the dual nature of light particles (photons)
Appratus: Use virtual lab.

Theory: In his 1923 experiment, Compton provided the most conclusive confirmation of the
particle aspect of radiation. By scattering X-rays off free electrons, he found that the wavelength
of the scattered radiation is larger than the wavelength of the incident radiation. This can be
explained only by assuming that the X-ray photons behave like particles.
At issue here is to study how X-rays scatter off free electrons. According to classical physics, the
incident and scattered radiation should have the same wavelength. This can be viewed as
follows. Classically, since the energy of the X-ray radiation is too high to be absorbed by a free
electron, the incident X-ray would then provide an oscillatory electric field which sets the
electron into oscillatory motion, hence making it radiate light with the same wavelength but with
an intensity I that depends on the intensity of the incident radiation I0 (i.e., I  I0). Neither of
these two predictions of classical physics is compatible with experiment. The experimental
findings of Compton reveal that the wavelength of the scattered X-radiation increases by an
amount , called the wavelength shift, and that  depends not on the intensity of the incident
radiation, but only on the scattering angle.

Fig.1 The Compton effect.


Compton succeeded in explaining his experimental results only after treating the incident
radiation as a stream of particles—photons—colliding elastically with individual electrons. In
this scattering process, which can be illustrated by the elastic scattering of a photon from a free
electron (Fig. 1), the laws of elastic collisions can be invoked, notably the conservation of energy
and momentum.
Consider that the incident photon, of energy E = h and momentum p = E/c, collides
with an electron that is initially at rest. If the photon scatters with a momentum p’ at an angle 
with energy E’= h’, while the electron recoils with a momentum Pe and Energy Ee, the
conservation of linear momentum and energy yields

The energies of the electron before and after the collision are given, respectively, by

_____________(A)
Where, Rest mass energy and recoil energy of an electron are

and
Conservation of energy From equation (A),

where C h=mec= 2.426 x10-12 m is called the Compton wavelength of the electron.
This relation, which connects the initial and final wavelengths to the scattering angle, confirms
Compton’s experimental observation: the wavelength shift of the X-rays depends only on the
angle at which they are scattered and not on the frequency (or wavelength) of the incident
photons.
In summary, the Compton effect confirms that photons behave like particles: they collide
with electrons like material particles.

1. Observation Table:
E1= 2 MeV E2= 4 MeV E3 = 6 MeV
1 = 2 = 3 =
P1= P2= P3=

θ ’  ’  ’ 

(degrees)

30
60
90
120
150
180

Conclusion: The particle nature of light particles (photons) is verified.


1.
2.

Link: https://www.geogebra.org/m/dgx8uSXJ

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