Question 26.9: Stationary Targets versus Colliding Beams Compare the energi...

Stationary Targets versus Colliding Beams

Compare the energies available from a 1.0-TeV proton accelerator when (a) two 1.0-TeV protons collide head-on and (b) a 1.0-TeV proton strikes another proton in a stationary target.

ORGANIZE AND PLAN For colliding particles each with kinetic energy K, the total available energy is 2K. For the stationary-target experiment, the energy is given by Equation 26.3:

E=\sqrt{\left(m_{1} c^{2}+m_{2} c^{2}\right)^{2}+2 m_{2} c^{2} K}.

\text { Known: Proton rest energy } m c^{2}=938  MeV =0.938  GeV \text {; } K=1.0  TeV =1000  GeV.