1B19 Edition 7

[kamalkolluri]

Problem: "Protons and neutrons have nearly the same mass. How different are their wavelengths? Calculate the wavelength of each particle when traveling at 2.75*10^5 m/s in a particle accelerator and report the difference as a percentage of the wavelength of the neutron.

I was confused as to what this problem was asking. If the proton and neutron have the same mass, wouldn't the percentage be 100%?

[Christopher Tran 1J]

Since both the proton and the neutron have the same mass, their wavelengths are the same as well. The difference is 0, so the percentage should be 0%.

[Dimitri Speron 1C]

They have extremely similar masses. Given the number of significant figures in the problem they have identical wavelengths, and this is the answer that they are looking for. However, if you hypothetically had more sig figs, you could indeed find a percent difference (tiny) between the two wavelengths.