Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: jeffreyH on 03/07/2015 00:39:37
-
I am looking for information on the photon energy bands involved in the photoelectric effect, Compton scattering and pair production. Is there any overlap in these energy bands?
-
The energy required for the photoelectric effect depends on the material that is being ionized (usually on the a few eV--so mostly UV, with some materials being ionized by blue light, and some requiring X-rays.
Pair production requires significantly higher energies, for instance to produce an electron and positron pair would require gamma rays (at least 1 million eV total energy required). Forming a pair of neutrinos could fall into the UV range because their masses are so low, but otherwise I would say pair production requires photons many, many orders of magnitude more energetic than for the photoelectric effect.
I am not very familiar with Compton scattering, but I think it typically treats electrons as "free" so the energies involved must be at least the ionization of the material interacting with light (or the material must already be a plasma).
-
Thanks for the information. It gives me some avenues to pursue.
-
I need some verification of a statement on wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_mass#Significance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_mass#Significance)
[The Planck mass is nature’s maximum allowed mass for point-masses (quanta) – in other words, a mass capable of holding a single elementary charge. If two quanta of the Planck mass or greater met, they could spontaneously form a black hole whose Schwarzschild radius equals their Compton wavelength.]
It says this needs a citation so I'm very unsure about its veracity.
-
find out who invented those theories/ideas, ask them.
who else know better?