The Student Room Group

Conservation of mass and atomic physics

Sodium-24 emits a gamma ray with an energy of 0.423MeV. The nucleus is initially at rest. Determine the speed at which the 3.98x10^-26 kg nucleus recoils.
i know you use a conservation of energy, but I am confused about what needs to be taken into account
Reply 1
Well, you can calculate the energy of the gamma ray in joules easily. From there you know the relation of momentum to energy for a photon. E=pcE=pc

Then use conservation of momentum.

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