A neutron makes a head-on elastic collision with a stationary deuteron. The fractional energy loss of the neutron in the collision is

Step-by-step solution

One deuteron consists of one proton and one neutron. As the mass of a proton and a neutron is approximately same ( 1.67 10⁻²⁷ ~kg ) , we assume that the mass of the neutron be m and the mass of the deuteron be 2 m as the electron mass is negligibly small compared to that of proton and neutron. Let the initial velocity of the neutron be u . As the deuteron is initially at rest, the final velocity of the neutron is v₁= ( m-2 m m+2 m ) u=- m u 3 m =- u 3 . and the velocity of the deuteron is v₂= 2 m m+2 m u= 2 3 u . T