The final answer will be units independent as the speed will be in speed of light units, i.e., .
The problem will be using Einstein's special relativity only. His general relativity will not be used.
The mass of a proton used in this problem is . The experimental uncertainty is being ignored in this problem.
The mass equivalent of 1 electron-Volt (eV) used in this problem is . Again, the experimental uncertainty is being ignored in this problem.
One TeV is eV. The Tevatron had a designed operating energy per proton or anti-proton of 1 TeV. For stability of the accelerator reasons, it usually operated near 936 Mev. This is from personal experience. In this problem, the designed per-proton energy is used.
One of the slightly less well known of Einstein's special relativity formulas is the one for mass increase for velocity:
Rewritten with shorter variable names:
and have to be expressed in the same units, e.g., or .
We will also be using another of Einstein's special relativity formulas: . by using them together.
Because of the fact that the speed is very close to the speed of light, subtract the answer from the speed of light and give your answer in units of (one millionth of ) with a precision of 3 significant digits. In the solution, I will provide more digits.
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The mass of a proton and the mass equivalent of an electron-Volt were given in the problem. They will not be repeated here in the solution.
The total mass (the rest mass plus the kinetic energy) of the 1 TeV accelerated proton is 1 . 7 8 4 3 3 4 5 2 8 8 9 8 × 1 0 − 2 4 Kilograms .
Solve totalMass = 1 − ( 1 − v ) 2 rest mass of a proton where I am doing the subtraction from the speed of light inside the equation and I have set the speed of light to 1 c so that it drops out of the original formula . Solving that formula a result of v = 4 . 3 9 3 5 2 4 9 4 9 6 3 6 1 7 1 × 1 0 − 7 c or 0 . 4 3 9 3 5 2 4 9 4 9 6 3 6 1 7 1 μ c .