What Is the Compton Effect?
In 1923, Compton, an American physicist, discovered a new phenomenon when studying the scattering of x-rays through physical substances. In addition to the x-rays with the original wavelength 0, scattered light also produced wavelengths The wavelength of x light of 0 varies with the scattering angle. This phenomenon is called the Compton Effect. Difficulties were encountered in explaining the Compton effect with classical electromagnetic theory. Compton explained this experimental phenomenon from the perspective of photon-electron collision with the aid of Einstein's photon theory. Chinese physicist Wu Youxun also made outstanding contributions to Compton scattering experiments.
- 1922 1923
- The study of Compton scattering has taken one or two decades to arrive at correct results.
- Compton effect was first experimentally confirmed
- (1) Classical interpretation (explanation of electromagnetic waves)
- Monochromatic electromagnetic waves act on charges smaller than the size of the wavelength
- 1. The magnitude of the change in the scattering wavelength lD is 10-12m. For visible light wavelengths l ~ 10-7m, lD << l, so the Compton effect is not observed.
- 2. The scattered light has rays with the same wavelength as the incident light, because the photons collide with the atoms, and the mass of the atoms is very large. After the photons collide, the energy
- Compton effect
- The discovery of the Compton effect, as well as the consistency of theoretical analysis and experimental results, not only strongly confirmed the correctness of the photon hypothesis, but also confirmed that during the interaction of microscopic particles, the laws of conservation of energy and momentum were strictly observed. [2]