Modern Physics 1 Question 19
16. A photon collides with a stationary hydrogen atom in ground state inelastically. Energy of the colliding photon is . After a time interval of the order of micro second another photon collides with same hydrogen atom inelastically with an energy of . What will be observed by the detector?
(a) 2 photons of energy
(b) 2 photons of energy
(c) One photon of energy
(d) One photon of energy
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Solution:
- The first photon will excite the hydrogen atom (in ground state) to first excited state (as
). Hence, during de-excitation a photon of will be released. The second photon of energy can ionise the atom. Hence, the balance energy i.e. is retained by the electron. Therefore, by the second photon an electron of energy will be released.