Why was the discovery of calculating how fast an electron moves in, lets say a hydrogen atom, an important discovery?
I’ve written a paper explaining the background and calculations for determining the velocity of an electron. In my conclusion I went to explain the importance of such a calculation and I was dumbfounded when I realized I couldn’t think of anything. When I took that question to google, I couldn’t find anything either so here I am.
I’m curious myself, the calculation was very ingenious, but what did it allow? What came of it? Does it have any application today?
In: Physics
One huge application that I could think of is for particle accelerators, both for using electrons as the colliding particles as well as measuring the fragments that come off after the collision.
For these accelerators, you need to know the speed of the electron to know what energies your beamline is at. That way, when you measure the particles that come off, you can reconstruct everything using conservation of energy and momentum. If you’re trying to discover a new particle, you absolutely have to know the initial and final energies (and thus the velocities of all of the particles involved) to be able to determine the mass of that particle.
Two examples of very famous accelerators that mainly use/used electrons (and positrons) are the Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC) and the Large Electron-Positron collider (LEP). These two experiments made very important discoveries regarding new particles that would have been impossible if they didn’t know how fast their electrons were going.
Sorry to be pedantic, but what do you mean by the speed of an electron? Is it the speed it zips around probability fields, the speed it drifts through materials when a field is applied, or the speed of the electric field itself?
Edit: Apparently Im wrong, check reply below
A simple application is knowing how long it takes for the light to come one after you flip the switch as that takes electrons moving. If you’re standing in a room that might not be noticeable, but let’s say the control-circuit for a power-plant I’m sure takes length of electrical cables into account when designed.
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