Compton scattering: Difference between revisions

From Citizendium
Jump to navigation Jump to search
imported>David H. Barrett
m (A bit of grammatical tinkering.)
imported>David E. Volk
(No difference)

Revision as of 12:47, 8 November 2008

This article is a stub and thus not approved.
Main Article
Discussion
Related Articles  [?]
Bibliography  [?]
External Links  [?]
Citable Version  [?]
 
This editable Main Article is under development and subject to a disclaimer.

Compton Scattering is a phenomenon in physics, first explained by Arthur Holly Compton, that confirms the quantum nature of x-rays. If a stream of x-rays is fired at a target the rays will be scattered and the scattered radiation will have smaller frequency (and longer wavelength) than the incident radiation. The change in wavelength is dependant on the angle through which the radiation is scattered. Arthur Compton earned the 1927 Nobel Prize for Physics for his discovery.

Compton Scattering Formula

If the radiation is scattered at an angle θ, and λ and λ'are the incident and scattered wavelengths then;